


The Longest Farewell

by ErtheChilde



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Character Study, Friendship, Gen, Introspection, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-03-16 20:24:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 54,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3501656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ErtheChilde/pseuds/ErtheChilde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the first nineteen years of her life, nothing happened. Nothing at all. Not ever. And then she met a man called the Doctor. [Companion piece to The Shortest Life]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This story utilizes characters, situations and premises that are copyright the BBC. No infringement on their respective copyrights is intended by the author in any way, shape or form. This fan oriented story is written solely for the author's own amusement and the entertainment of the readers. It is not for profit. Any resemblance to real organizations, institutions, products or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. All fiction, plot and Original Characters with the exception of those introduced in the books and graphic novels, are the sole creation of ErtheChilde and using them without permission is considered rude, in bad-taste and will reflect seriously on your credibility as a writer. There may or may not be a curse in your future as well, so be warned. Remembered all things come in threes, good and bad. Plagiarizing is considered bad.  
>   
> Warning: Spoilers: If it existed in any form of Doctor Who canon, whether television, novelization, or graphic novel, it’s probably going to be mentioned here. That includes up to and beyond 12th / 13th / Whateverth Adventures. So if you don’t like being spoiled, maybe save this fic for after you’ve gone through the series, yeah?  
>   
> No Beta: I edit as I complete stuff, so this won't be beta'd until I can send a whole fic to be dealt with. If there's anything really glaring, PM me and let me know.  
>   
> Canadian Writing British: As a Canadian, I am not all-knowing when it comes to British idioms, sayings or sang. I write what sounds right to my ears and when in doubt, I look things up on the Internet. So I might not always get it right. If I’m way off about something please drop me a line and I’ll correct it.

_‘It’s the end of the world.’_

Bad Wolf howled, and entire universes trembled in her wake.

The golden threads of time and space stretched along the ontological paradox of her existence before pulling taut; they created a temporal footpath, a trail through universes and possibilities and the Void which she could travel as she wished. As she flickered through reality, she scattered her name across the relative and myriad dimensions.

A haunting melody echoed where that name fell, a mantra that rang like a promise.

_‘I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself. I take the words. I scatter them through time and space. A message to lead myself here.’_

Scrawled across a wall in a town doomed to suffocate under the pumice and burning ash of an exploding mountain. Centuries away, on a night when the dead walked and angels spoke, a young maid intoned the words in awe and fear. Generations later, in the blacked out night of a city under siege, a bomb carrying the name went unexploded because just that once, everybody lived. As a spaceship fell from the sky, a young boy holding a spray canister considered what to write on the odd blue box; he didn’t notice the golden stranger beside him, or hear her suggestion as he formed the letters. A country away, a lonesome, bitter alien stared at the scale model of her brilliant escape plan, searching for a name by which to christen it. And in an alien marketplace, as the most important woman in the whole of creation turned left, the words exploded over every visible surface.

A bell tolled the end of the universe.

_Bad Wolf._

A warning as much as a message and a promise: she wanted her Doctor safe. Protected from his long-time enemy and the pain that its kind had inflected on him for so long.

The Bad Wolf could see it all – every encounter, every painful decision – unfolding before her for the first time and every time after. The man she loved, dying alone on a satellite that had become a graveyard, forced to commit genocide once more.

She would save him from that – had saved him from it and was saving him from it even now. But the hurt would linger with him, an abscess that would fester and rip open the scars that had been struggling to form since the Time War.

Scars he ought never to have had.

The thought formed and the Bad Wolf moved, darting through the time fissures and fabric of creation. A creature born of the Time Vortex, she breached the lock that forever bound the Last Great Time War with ease. It was nothing to her, stepping foot upon the ground of a planet condemned to burn.

Smoke and ash choked the umber sky, and blood flowed in the streets. Gallifreyans and Daleks clashed, one species desperate for survival, the other’s sole purpose to exterminate everything.

No one noticed the golden-eyed stranger moving through the chaos and debris, marching through the ruined Capitol and into the once grand hallways of the Time Lord’s Citadel. Sensors could not detect her as she materialised in the cavernous Time Vaults that locked away so many temporal treasures and armaments. Nor did they notice as she slipped into the dark, shadowy arsenal where the most powerful and dangerous weapon in all of creation lay.

The weapon capable of obliterating Gallifrey, the Daleks and whole galaxies within a single instant.

A small wooden box, filled with gears on the inside and intricate patterns on the outer panels. These were a mixture of circular script and indecipherable, ancient symbols from a time when Gallifreyans still believed in magic.

This innocuous looking object was what the Doctor would use to save the universe, and damn himself.

Unless she did it for him.

She raised a hand toward it.

‘Scatter your words elsewhere, Bad Wolf, you’re not meant to be here,’ a cheerful voice interrupted her perusal.

Bad Wolf turned, the movement languid and without apprehension, to consider her adversary.

She had not sensed the telepathic perusal of her thoughts and memories. Still, the sentient interface of the Moment had used them to give itself this specific form. Bad Wolf knew every incarnation of the Doctor that ever had been or ever would be. It was this face, however, that possessed a corner of her innermost being. A space where no other would or could tread.

The rangy body was leaning against a dark column, imperious in a leather jacket draped like chainmail and arms crossed. The achingly familiar face pulled into a wary grin, pale blue eyes watching her with a mixture of guarded concern and something else. Something nameless, that was so much more ancient than her Doctor and which Bad Wolf suspected had once threaded the Time Vortex that had born her.

‘I create myself to be everywhere,’ Bad Wolf’s voice was neutral. ‘Everywhen. I exist where I will.’

The Moment scoffed and pushed off from the column. ‘Well, this’ll be a lark. The Galaxy Eater and the Abomination walk into the Time Vaults…sounds like the set-up of a rather terrible joke, don’t you think?’

Bad Wolf cocked her head to one side, experiencing a distant curiosity whether the gallows humour came from the weapon itself or the persona it had adopted.

The Moment’s eyes narrowed. It looked down on her, its holographic form, like the model it had chosen, much taller than her own. ‘I know why you’re here.’

‘Then you also comprehend that my intentions are in sync with your own programming.’

‘Well, yes and no,’ the Moment mused. ‘You’re probably right that the most moral and ethical action is to allow the War to be stopped sooner rather than later. But keeping the Doctor from pushing the button isn’t a choice for an emotional teenager with the temporal cosmic powers of creation and destruction to make.’

‘I am more than that and you know it.’

‘Perhaps,’ a tight smile graced the Moment’s borrowed features. ‘The Time Lords fear my judgement and so stowed me away in here. But not you, eh, Bad Wolf? You’re used to my moral judgement.’

‘You are not him.’

‘Might as well be, considering the situation,’ the Moment quipped. ‘He wouldn’t be best pleased with this. Even now he’s begging with you. Can you hear him?’

A voice echoed within the walls of the arsenal, much more harried and desperate than the facsimile with whom she now spoke.

_‘You’ve got to stop this now! You’ve got the entire Vortex running through your head. You’re going to burn!’_

‘This has already happened,’ Bad Wolf said. ‘Will happen. It is not an immediate concern for either of us.’

‘Barrel of laughs you are,’ the Moment scowled.

‘If you wished to stop me, you would have done so,’ Bad Wolf reminded. ‘Yet that is an outcome neither of us want. We share omnipotence, but we are also both bound by rules.’

The Moment snorted. ‘Well, we’ve got a bit of a conundrum on our hands then. Devastating weapon with a conscience and an omnipotent avatar of creation and destruction without one. It’s a sort of unstoppable force meets immovable object, when you think about it.’ The Moment straightened. ‘Alright, let’s talk.’

The surrounding space shifted and blurred, transforming from the featureless marble enclosure of the Time Vaults into a wide, open stretch of beach. The sky and sand were a stark grey, and brisk sea air whipped at Bad Wolf’s face.

‘Recognise where we are?’ the Moment asked, gesturing at the barren beach.

Bad Wolf frowned. ‘I have the same trans-dimensional awareness of past and future you do.’

‘True – so it’s not as though we can lie to each other,’ the Moment grinned. ‘Might be the most honest conversation the universe ever witnesses.’

‘Then speak.’

The Moment gestured at the beach again. ‘You understand what this place means. The choices that will be made here. I thought it would be appropriate. So let’s not beat around the banana bush – we both see how this discussion ends, but causality demands it take place. I abhor paradoxes, don’t you?’

Bad Wolf’s eyebrow raised, a gesture more suited to the human that had created her.

‘Maybe not,’ the Moment chuckled, and then its borrowed face became serious. ‘If you could stop him – from ever committing genocide. From ever killing his own people along with the Daleks – would you?’

There was a beat of silence where the whole universe held its breath.

‘We both know the Daleks survived,’ Bad Wolf said, and it was the beach which echoed this time with rattling, metallic rasps and shrill, computerised cries.

_‘EX-TER-MIN-ATE!’_

_‘We waited here in the dark space, damaged but rebuilding.’_

_‘I AM THE GOD OF ALL DALEKS!’_

The Moment’s expression didn’t change, a stark contrast to the way the owner of the face it wore would have reacted.

‘To destroy his own kind while their murderers live is not a burden I would have him carry,’ Bad Wolf said. ‘If I can relieve him of this, I will.’

‘Would you take that choice from him?’ the Moment prompted. ‘Invalidate every sacrifice he made, just to spare him pain?’

‘Yes,’ Bad Wolf answered. ‘He need never experience the burn of the guilt and the feel of his people’s blood on his hands.’

‘You do that, your entire timeline changes,’ the Moment reminded her. ‘You risk creating a bigger paradox than what you already are. And even now forces beyond the universe wait to devour the entropy your destruction would bring.’

‘Those forces have been – are being – will be dealt with.’

‘Perhaps,’ the Moment said again. ‘Perhaps not. Who’s to say my interference in things might not tip the scale and ensure your destruction? D’you really figure the Doctor would be keen on losing the universe – and you – just to avoid being called genocide?’

Bad Wolf was silent, and for a fleeting second the human heart of her wavered.

The Moment’s expression turned gentle.

‘Might do to think about it a bit, hey?’ it told her. The surrounding sky filled with images of a life that was at the same time too long and too short. ‘It’s not like we don’t have all the time in the world…’

· ΔΩ ·


	2. Chapter One: Run

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: When I originally wrote _The Shortest Life_ , it was from a joint point of view of the Doctor and Rose. As the story and entire ‘verse began to evolve, however, it became too unwieldy and inconsistent, so I decided to change the formatting of that fic into just the Doctor’s POV, while the timestamps were more inclusive. A lot of that first version of things ended up in the timestamps, but there are still bits and pieces of Rose’s story that ought to be told in her own POV, without the Doctor overshadowing her. So I decided to write this companion piece both to incorporate some of those ideas, and to address some of the stuff that I may have neglected to do in _The Shortest Life_ and its timestamps. For the most part, everything in this fic occurs in missing scenes and codas from the episodes themselves, with the occasional bit of TSL poking through so that we can have her first impressions about certain things. Also, hopefully writing this will put me back in the mindframe to actually complete TSL! Also, I will get the banner and proper formatting and insert this in the chronology when I get a spare minute. Not really in the mood right now.

_‘’Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life!’_

 

Rose Tyler lay wide awake in the early hours of the morning, staring unseeing at the ceiling above her. Somehow, it didn’t feel like the same one she had woken up beneath the previous day.

The events of the last twelve hours kept running through her mind, as though on endless replay, and yet she couldn’t make any kind of sense of it.

_Could I have imagined it all?_ Rose wondered for the umpteenth time. She had heard of people imagining weird things like angels or ghosts in a crisis, strangers who appeared to save their lives and then disappeared seconds later without a trace.

Was that what had happened?

Was her mind trying to explain how she got herself out of that building before it exploded? And instead of something half way rational, it settled on some stranger nattering on about living plastic and relay devices?

_Glad I didn’t say anything to Mum or Mickey, or they’d have me sectioned,_ she reflected without humour. _Is it even possible to go mad that fast, though? I mean, everything was normal up ‘til then…_

Her day had started out ordinary enough. Like every other morning in the past year, it followed the same lacklustre routine to which she was resigned. Rose woke at seven-thirty still wishing for at least another two hours of sleep, and then blearily went through her morning routine. She’d kissed her mother goodbye and taken the bus to Henrik’s. As usual, she debated whether she had time to duck into Costa before work and, as usual, decided that she didn’t.

Her job at the department store was mind-numbing, but it was work. Besides, she hoped to make assistant floor manager at the end of the month. That would mean a better paycheque and more control over her hours. She’d finally be able to start saving money again and repay Mickey for all the trips he made in to town to share her lunch break.

It was this possible promotion in mind that often made her volunteer to stay late as needed, or run errands for management. So that night when the security guard handed her the lottery money to bring down to Wilson, the chief electrician, she didn’t question it. Even if it was past closing and she would have to walk home instead of catching the bus and the basement was just plain creepy. It wasn’t everyone on the sales floor that management trusted with a bag full of cash. The fact she’d earned that trust in six months was an accomplishment. Her upper-class co-workers had a general suspicion for anyone off a council estate.

Upon reaching the basement, however, she’d found the place deserted. Wilson hadn’t been in his office, nor in the adjacent storage room. As she tried to decide whether he was out back in the shipping bay, she first heard the noise.

And that was when it had all gone to pot.

One minute she was alone and calling out for Wilson so that she could bloody well go home, and the next she was surrounded by window shop dummies.

First she thought it was just the blokes from the sport department mucking about. Derek always messed with her, ever since she turned him down for a date her first week. He was popular enough with the others that they went right along with whatever idiot scheme that popped into his head. Last month they’d clipped a security tag to her favourite hoodie when she wasn’t paying attention. When she left for home the anti-theft ink had stained both the hoodie and the t-shirt beneath it.

Rose had egged his car in revenge, but she had been expecting some kind of escalation ever since then. Window shop dummies seemed his exact brand of humour.

But as the expressionless figures backed her into a wall, she had realised that their gait was more predatory than lumbering. And she heard none of the sniggering that would have accompanied a stupid prank.

By the time she realised she was in actual danger, they had already isolated her from the storage room exit. One of them was in the process of raising its blunt, solid arm above her head.

_I’m gonna be killed by a mannequin,_ Rose realised with dim disbelief as the arm prepared to strike her.

Then, someone had grabbed her hand and whispered, ‘ _Run!_ ’

And she had inexplicably found herself legging it through a maintenance corridor to the lift with a strange man in a leather jacket. Trying to escape a horde of students dressed like window shop dummies.

_Except it wasn’t students,_ she reminded herself now. _He said it wasn’t. Living plastic, was it?_

Before the lift doors had closed on them, one of dummies had reached for them and the strange man had pulled its arm off. He’d tossed it to her and then matter-of-factly told her it wasn’t students and that Wilson was dead.

She hadn’t even processed this before they reached the ground floor. Then he waved a bomb in front of her, introduced himself as a doctor and told her to run for her life.

_Doctor of what? Making living plastic dummies?_ Rose wondered. She lifted the hand he had clutched and staring at it in the darkness of her room, its outline illuminated by the lights of the estate. She could feel the phantom sensation of callused fingers around her own that told her she had imagined nothing. _Maybe he was some sort of mad scientist._

It still answered none of her questions. Rose wished she had stuck around long enough to see if he had gotten out, but she had been confused and wrong-footed. She had simply stared at the door he had disappeared behind for a moment before her legs carried her away from the building. She hadn’t even realised she had moved until she was nearly run over by a black cab as she crossed the street.

But that wasn’t the last near-death experience of the night.

The second she got to the other side of the road, the entire block shook and the top level of Henrik’s exploded.

She’d been left gaping in disbelief at the side of the road, a plastic arm clutched to her chest until the sirens started.

And then she’d run.

_Don’t think I’ll be getting that manager position now,_ she thought, and then blinked in the darkness. The implications of that hit her for the first time. _I haven’t got a job anymore. What the hell am I supposed to do now?_

She knew she could follow her mother’s advice – sell her story to one of the papers. It would at least keep them in groceries for the month. Jackie had rambled on that subject the entire night, from the minute Rose stumbled in the door to right before she went to bed. As unimpressed as Rose was with her mother using the night’s events for her evening gossip exchange, she had a point.

But how would she explain the mysterious doctor? And besides, he’d told her if she talked about what happened someone could get killed.

Jackie would tell her hang the consequences, she needed the money. But then, her mother was as money conscious as they came and notorious for knowing how to stretch a pound.

_She’d have to be, wouldn’t she? Almost nineteen years’ experience doing it…_

Rose’s father, Pete, had died when she was eight months old, run down by a car while on his way to a friend’s wedding. He’d left her mother to bring Rose up all by herself, which she’d done rather well for a work-at-home hairdresser. They had lived in the same council house flat her whole life, and Jackie had done her best to make sure Rose never felt like she had gone without.

She’d even put away enough every year so she and Rose could spend a week at Tenby on the South Wales coast. There weren’t many of Rose’s friends whose parents bothered trying to give them holidays, even if they could have afforded it. But Rose and Jackie were all each other had and their relationship was always close.

At least, until Rose fell in love with Jimmy Stone.

Never one to keep her opinion to herself, Jackie had made her dislike of the musician known from the first, and would badmouth him at every opportunity. Rose, in all of her headstrong sixteen-year-old certainty, had defended him with the same fury, leading to a few weeks’ worth of vicious rows.

One night her mother’s harping exploded into a row that had the neighbours threatening to call the police. Jackie had told her she would not sit by and watch Rose destroy her life.

‘Not after everything I sacrificed to give you a better chance than I had!’ she’d yelled.

‘Fine,’ Rose had retorted, and walked out. She’d shacked up with Jimmy that same night and vowed she wouldn’t return home until her mother got over herself and apologised.

As was wont to happen with these things, though, Rose discovered over the next five months that her mother had had the rights of it. Long before she’d come home from a Valentine’s Day shopping trip, bags overflowing with racy knickers and wine, to find Jimmy shagging some hippy slag named Noosh.

With no other choice, Rose had found herself standing in front of her mother’s flat, trying to work up the courage to knock on the door. To her mother’s eternal credit, she hadn’t even let Rose get out the apology before she shepherded her into the kitchen. With a cup of tea shoved into her hands Rose sobbed out the entire story.

Since then, neither of them mentioned the period of estrangement. Still, there was a tension between them that had never been there. It didn’t help that when Jimmy and Noosh left for Amsterdam, he’d used Rose’s credit card to keep them in gas, cigarettes and beer. He’d racked up £800 in debt before Rose had the cards – which she’d only gotten because he’d suggested it – cancelled. Jackie had since fronted her the money to keep her name out of the credit bureau, but she’d made it clear Rose would pay back every cent.

Not that there was ever a question of that. Her experience with Jimmy taught Rose a valuable lesson. She now knew that whatever her dreams had been before, you couldn’t get anywhere in the world without working for it.

Which was how she ended up behind the till at the Christmas Shop of Clifton’s parade, working shit hours for even worse pay. Just to manage her half of the rent every month, never mind her phone bill.

She had spent six months reeking of fake evergreen scent, cinnamon hearts and peppermint before one of Jackie’s old boyfriends let them know about a position at Henrik’s. The posh department store wasn’t much better in terms of pay, but there was more opportunity for promotion there. She’d started out in the stock room and quickly worked her way up to the sales floor.

_A sales floor that doesn’t exist anymore_ , Rose thought ruefully, turning and trying to get comfortable on her side.

Sleep continued to evade her, and she wished she had taken up Mickey on his offer to go for a pint. She wasn’t one for beer, but it would have dulled her thoughts enough to help her fall asleep. As much as his offer hung on the fact there was a football match on, Mickey knew that as well as she did.

_Daft man_ , she thought with affection. Most men tried to ply their girlfriends with alcohol hoping to get a shag out of the deal. Her bloke did it when he wanted her to calm her nerves or sleep through the night.

Of course, that kind of guilelessness was Mickey to the core. He’d always been like that.

Rose had been dating him on and off since she was fourteen. Though she didn’t consider their relationship anything special, she knew she would end up marrying him in a few years. That was just how things were meant to work. Besides, he had gotten to be a habit with her.

After her experience with Jimmy, she could do a lot worse.

Mickey was four years older, had finished secondary school and had a steady job as an apprentice mechanic. He had always lived in the same block of flats as her and Jackie, but she’d only started dating him from the beginning of her Fourth Year. It was the beginning of the most laid-back, on-again-off-again friendship-relationship in history.

They dated for nine months, but then she broke up with him right before summer holidays. Shareen and Keisha had called it quits with their blokes a week before, and they wanted to enjoy being single all together. Mickey had taken it awfully well, all things considered, and they remained friends.

Once she started Fifth Year they hung out again, which led to getting back together. This time it lasted three months, ending when Jackie decided Rose needed to spend more time on her school work than in the back of Mickey’s car. She’d only been allowed to date again after GCSE results were announced.

To Rose’s own surprise, she hadn’t done that badly.

She had even planned to sit her A-levels in English, French and Art despite her mother’s complaints. Jackie maintained that none of those things would get her as good a job as computers or engineering. Mickey thought she should do whatever she wanted, likely supposing it wouldn’t matter much once they settled down and had kids.

Neither response had been encouraging.

Then in September, Rose had met the man she thought was the love of her life. Jimmy was twenty, played bass guitar in a local band called No Hot Ashes and was, according to popular consensus on the estate, the Fittest Bloke Ever.

And for some reason, he had looked at Rose like she was worth more than only becoming someone’s “missus”. He had asked her out, and it came down to a choice. Either stay with her good, dependable boyfriend or step into the unknown with an amazing man who wrote her songs and promised to take her away from the estate.

She’d dumped Mickey, convinced that she and Jimmy were soulmates.

It was a bitter, painful mistake to have made.

But Mickey was patient.

He waited for her, uncomplaining that she had abandoned him. He’d forgiven her when she came to him, five months into the tumultuous relationship, and confessed she might have made a mistake. Mickey hugged her and told her it was alright, then helped her leave Jimmy.

It was he that convinced her to go back to Jackie.

Within weeks they were back to dating, and Rose made a promise to herself that she would let no man treat her the way Jimmy had. The best way to keep that promise was to stick with Mickey. She wasn’t likely to do better than him, and she supposed there was no point trying.

For all that he was the typical football-watching, sex-obsessed man with the sense of humour of a preteen boy – _honestly, give a man a plastic arm!_ – he was also capable of being remarkably sweet right when it counted.

_At least I got him to take the arm with him,_ she thought to herself, once again shifting her position and trying to find comfort lying on her stomach. _Knowing the managers, they’ll be after me for theft of Henrik’s property or something._

Which forced her thoughts back to the night’s events.

She went over it all again, everything: the living dummies, the doctor saving her before she was likely bludgeoned to death, his directive to leave the building, the explosion…

_What was the point of it all?_ Rose wondered. _Why Henrik’s? Why attack me? Are they gonna come after me now? Is that why the doctor told me not to say anything? What the hell would I say anyhow? It’s not like the police or anyone would believe me._

Would it even matter anymore? The evening newscast had said they’d pulled a body from the wreckage of the store. Maybe it wasn’t Wilson’s, but his. Something in her hoped it wasn’t. Beyond the fact she had a million questions to ask, she wanted to thank him for saving her life.

Though, maybe not for blowing up her job, because now she had no idea what her next move should be.

Although it had bored her to tears, working the floor at Henrik’s had allowed her to pay off all of her debts. Rose had been secretly considering A-Level again, something she’d been trying to talk herself into bringing up with Mickey for a while. She hadn’t even talked to her mother yet, because Jackie was…well.

Jackie would only remind Rose how she’d never been the best student. Which was depressingly true.

She never much liked school, and the teachers thought she was just another welfare brat they were forced to teach. Most of the teachers at Jericho Street Comprehensive didn’t even want to work there to begin with. No one was hard-pressed to help an estate chav with learning difficulties, even if it wasn’t her fault that science and history and math made no sense to her.

It also didn’t help that she had a remarkable talent for getting into trouble.

She’d been known to help plan food fights, and when she was fifteen, she had gotten suspended for three days for persuading the school choir to go on strike. The choir teacher had been trying to force them into old uniforms that had lice and smelled like cat sick, but the administration hadn’t seemed bothered by that.

Then she’d met Jimmy and dropped out of school, and by the time she came to her senses it was too late to go back. The choice had been to either take adult education courses at night, or find a job.

Considering she couldn’t afford any of the reputable night schools, she went to work.

Was now maybe the opportunity she had been waiting for? She could probably find something part-time and do A-levels at night. It would at least make getting a proper job easier if she had those.

_And then what? Keep on with the “beans on toast”?_ Rose thought with a frown, the doctor’s words echoing in her head. This man – this complete stranger – had summed up her life in a few derisive sentences. Like he blamed her for not doing anything better.

Which was ridiculous because he was a stranger and knew nothing about her. Why should she care what some man who she’d exchanged less than thirty sentences with had to say about her life? He might be a criminal for all she knew.

_Oh_ , she blinked as something occurred to her. _What if the whole thing was some sort of drugs ring or terrorist cell?_

If that were the case if she went to the police they’d be able to sort everything. She might stop someone or many someones from getting hurt. Or more people than were already hurt.

And what was the worst the police could do? Call her a nutter and show her the door?

At least if they thought she was out of her head, no one would get killed the way the doctor had implied.

That decided her.

She nodded to herself and turned over a final time, determined not to think about the matter anymore. Tomorrow she would head down to the police and give her statement. After that, she would look for a new job. Near-death experience or not, life would go on as always.

So decided, she finally drifted to sleep.

That night she dreamed of piercing blue eyes and running for her life.

 

· ΔΩ ·


	3. Chapter Two: Crossing the Threshold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **AN:** I was originally not going to touch on the canon stuff at all. They are complete tales in themselves and people love them already, and don’t want to rehash things that have been rehashed millions of times. But that being said, this scene is really the focal point of everything. It’s when both Rose’s life (and the Doctor’s life) changes forever, and not spending time examining the thoughts going through her head would make the rest of the story (and anything afterward) seem incomplete. So I decided to spend a bit of time on the last five minutes of _Rose_. I should also mention, it’s not all going to be just Rose introspection and a recap of episodes the whole way through _The Longest Farewell_. As we get away from the introductory period of the Doctor/Rose relationship, there’s a lot more dialogue and action in coming. So please bear with me. Oh, and any dialogue recognizable in this chapter doesn’t belong to me :P

_‘I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling ‘round the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it.’_

It turned out, life definitely didn’t go back to normal.

In fact, it had gone from the opposite of normal to so completely unbelievable that Rose felt dizzy just thinking about it. Even as she stood still, rooted to the spot, facing the most intriguing and baffling man she had ever met. The adrenaline still rushed through her brain, her mind desperate to catch up with everything that had happened.

The Doctor – and yes, it was really his name, and that wasn’t even the strangest thing about him! – was beaming at her like she was the most amazing thing he had ever seen in his life, and who was to say she wasn’t just then?

She had helped to save all their lives – hers, and Mickey’s and the Doctor’s and possibly even London and the world – and her heart was singing. Her lungs burned from the oily smoke of the London Eye maintenance shaft, her hands blistered from the chain she’d grasped to rescue the Doctor, her legs burned running –

But she felt bloody brilliant.

She craved… _something_. A greasy plate of chips, or a cigarette, or a shag, or a dive into a pool of cool water – just _something_. She couldn’t even articulate because she didn’t know if she had ever felt this way.

The last twenty-four hours played in her mind on repeat, the same way people might say their lives flashed before their eyes, and she knew why. She had lived more in the past day than in her entire life. Whatever she could have expected when she woke up this morning, this was so far from it to be absurd.

She had thought her day would be spent talking it out with Jackie where she could get a new job and whether she should demand compensation for mental trauma. Instead, the Doctor had shown up at the flat.

Turned out, she hadn’t imagined him.

And the living plastic creatures had also not been a figment of her imagination. She found that out the hard way when the plastic arm she was sure she had told Mickey to get rid of tried to suffocate her. Again the Doctor had saved her and tried to run off, but this time she had been ready for him.

She’d followed him out, tracked him across estate and common, demanding to know what was happening and why. And he’d told her an impossible tale about how the living plastic wanted to start a war that would overthrow the human race.

He’d held her hand, made her imagine that she could feel the world turn for a moment, and then told her to forget him. He’d disappeared without a backward glance.

She’d had to go home and explain to her mother how the coffee table had ended up in shattered pieces of cheap wood and Plexiglas on the living room floor. Without mentioning living plastic or the overthrow of the human race.

_Best way to get someone to remember you is to tell them to forget_ , she thought wryly.

And she hadn’t been able to, either.

She’d fed Jackie some line about looking into a possible new job and headed to Mickey’s flat to use his computer. An internet search had led her to a conspiracy theorist named Clive who told her even more impossible things, all centering on one idea.

An idea that had given her shivers even before she found out how much of it was true.

That the Doctor was some kind of immortal alien, a dangerous creature who appeared on the sidelines of history and brought danger and death in his wake.

She’d thought it was insane, had laughed at herself for being so focussed on this _Doctor_ when she had her own, more immediate concerns.

And then her boyfriend was replaced with a plastic copy of himself and tried to kill her, and she’d learned that Clive was right. The Doctor was an alien. He had an impossible space ship that was somehow bigger on the inside and could disappear from one place and reappear in another by the twist of a dial.

She’d been so stymied, she hadn’t even been able to get a handle on how she felt from one moment to another.

The revelation of the Doctor’s alienness had warred with the notion of Mickey being dead had warred with how she had almost died again had warred with how did he fit an entire room into a small blue box had warred with oh she felt like throwing up –

There had been nothing for it but to forcibly focus on one thing, and that one thing had been to help the Doctor sort everything. Which was just as well, because for an alien who supposedly did this sort of thing regularly, he wasn’t half thick.

_Honestly,_ Mum _could a figured out that the only giant, round structure worth using as a signal relay was the London Eye!_

The Doctor now leaned in the doorway of his amazing space ship, looking for all the world like this was a normal day for him. It probably was.

‘Nestene Consciousness?’ he bragged, snapping his fingers. ‘Easy.’

‘You were useless in there,’ Rose teased. ‘You’d be dead if it wasn’t for me.’

‘Yes, I would,’ his glee faded, the sentiment sounding like something he had trouble admitting and something he regretted at the same time. ‘Thank you.’

He met her gaze, and something she couldn’t name passed between them.

It was over as soon as she noticed it. The Doctor straightened and pasted that manic grin of his back.

‘Right then, I’ll be off! Unless, er…I don’t know. You could come with me,’ he suggested, trying with obvious effort to sound casual. It still came off as though he was unexpectedly out of his element. Her heart skipped a beat as he continued, ‘This box isn’t just a London hopper, you know. It goes anywhere in the universe. Free of charge.’

_Anywhere_ , Rose repeated in her thoughts. It felt like he was holding out the proverbial apple.

Growing up, she had always dreamed of travelling – of seeing the world beyond London. Her Grandfather Prentice always had the telly switched to Michael Palin’s travel programs. Considering the time she had spent at his home, she’d become enchanted at an early age. But there had been no money for that sort of thing beyond what Jackie scrounged for their annual holiday to Tenby.

She’d seized on the opportunity when she was thirteen to go to Europe. Her year had been sponsored to go to France – some kind of pilot program in comprehensive schools to sort out delinquency or something. She’d convinced Jackie to let her go. Of course, the sponsoring company and the teachers had outlined a completely boring trudge through Paris, replete with obligatory photo opportunities and no actual time to enjoy anything. It had been miserable until she and Shareen took matters into their own hands. The day they were meant to visit the Louvre, they’d ducked the teachers and hopped a train to Parc Asterix.

It had been the most liberating, amazing feeling in the world and Rose had been sure that this was how travelling was supposed to be.

But the police had caught them in the queue for the Menhir Express and they’d been sent home.

Jackie swore it was the last time she let Rose go anywhere by herself until she could be trusted not to get into trouble. Rather pointless, really, as no other opportunity ever materialised.

Until this moment, and everything the Doctor offered.

She was faintly aware of Mickey talking, only just able to make out his words.

‘He’s an alien! He’s a _thing_!’

‘He’s _not_ invited,’ the Doctor told her, blunt, barely sparing her boyfriend a glance. His expression had become serious again, expectant and hopeful all at once. ‘What do you think?’

It was on her tongue to jump at the chance.

_Say yes, you idiot!_ Rose yelled at herself, but her tongue felt leaden.

‘You could say here…fill your life with work and food and sleep…or you could go anywhere,’ he went on. His eyes were bright and a subtle curve to his mouth suggested he _knew_ that those were the magic words.

Like he could see how tempted she was.

‘…Is it always this dangerous?’

‘Yeah,’ he sounded thrilled at that, and her heart skipped again because she could easily imagine the adventure he wanted her to experience. The life he could offer her.

Running for their lives, hand in hand.

Anywhere in the universe, getting into scrapes and saving the world every day. Not having to come home to a flat she shared with her mother, or scrounge for work at the butcher’s because she had no job. For some reason, this alien didn’t care she hadn’t finished school, or that she lived on an estate.

For the first time since Jimmy, someone was looking at her like she had worth.

And that realisation stopped her in her tracks.

Because she had done this before, hadn’t she?

Pinned impossible dreams and hopes on the whims of an interesting man and left behind the two people who mattered most in her life because she got selfish. Because for a second, her wishes had been more important than anyone else’s caution.

Mickey tightened his grip on her legs, and the rest of reality jarringly crashed down around her.

‘Yeah, I can’t,’ she found herself saying, and the words about robbed her of breath as her heart demanded what she was saying. She tried to explain – to herself, to him – her reasons, but even as they came out they burned her lips.

‘I’ve got to go and find my mum –’ Mum who knew her way home and was likely on the way to Bev’s right then, too. ‘ – and someone’s got to look after this stupid lump,’ she concluded. Said stupid lump tightened his grip on her, and although he wasn’t anywhere near her lungs, she found she couldn’t breathe right. ‘So…’

The disappointment on the Doctor’s face was nearly painful to look at, but it wasn’t there long. He blinked and then there was an impenetrably blank look on his face.

‘Okay,’ he said, as if nothing was wrong and she hadn’t just thrown his amazing offer back at him. ‘See you around.’

The door to the police box space ship closed slowly, every second she delayed compelling her to call out and say she’d changed her mind.

But it was too late because he was gone. The space ship faded away in the darkness of the night, its outline blinking several times until not even the echo of its takeoff lingered in the alley.

_What the hell did I just do_? Rose thought numbly.

She couldn’t believe she had said no. It was a reflex, a denial practically bred into her. She’d grown up knowing that if you were poor, the only thing you had was your pride and so never show anyone how much you want something. It wouldn’t do to come off as desperate, and in this matter…

And she was desperate, true, but she couldn’t let anyone else know that.

_I made the right choice_ , she told herself, over and over with the hope that repetition would make her sure of that. _Better for everyone, not just me._

She forced herself to get moving. If she got home and into familiar surroundings, she would begin to feel more sure of her decision. It was only the adrenaline wearing off, this sick sensation in the pit of her stomach. It had nothing to do with the crushing certainty that she had just ruined her life.

‘Come on, let’s go,’ she murmured, managing to get Mickey to his feet. He continued to gape at where the TARDIS had stood. ‘Come on.’

Even as they moved away, she tried to convince herself that it was all for the best. That everything would go back to normal now and travelling with the Doctor wouldn’t have worked anyhow.

Still, every step toward the mouth of the alley felt like she had lead weights in her shoes and she couldn’t resist one look back, just to make sure…

But the TARDIS was gone, and its mad alien pilot with her.

She tried to take comfort in the feel of Mickey’s arm around her waist, in the certainty that all of this would be put out of mind soon. As soon as the shock wore off, Mickey would ask her if she was alright and suggest heading down to the pub for a drink to settle their nerves. Or back to his place. She would call her mother back, let her know she would likely stay at Mickey’s that night. Remind her not to drink too much at Bev’s if she didn’t want a hangover.

Tomorrow, everything would start over again, only this time without the addition of the man in the leather coat.

Now she felt dizzy, but due to adrenaline this time.

Somehow, she felt it before she heard it.

The wheezing, groaning noise that heralded the movement of the TARDIS, and instead of fading away, it grew louder.

She whipped around, forgetting to breathe as she saw blue box re-materialise.

And there he was!

Poking his head out, daft grin in place, and he remarked in a tone that tried for innocent but filled with implication, ‘By the way, did I mention? It also travels in time.’

And he was smiling at her, like he had figured out something immensely important, and she was smiling because she couldn’t quite believe it. He turned to walk back inside, returning to the heart of the huge control room. The way he left the door open, it was like he knew without a doubt that this time she was going to say yes.

And she knew that this time, she was.

Doubts and fear tried to infringe on her once again, her common sense warring with her wants. But in that horrible interlude – the longest eighteen seconds of her entire life – she had made a decision.

She turned to Mickey, and could tell from the dismay breaking through the shock that he knew what she was going to do. There was an expression like betrayal on his face, and for a half-second she warred with herself –

She shouldn’t do this to him, this was wrong.

Mickey was a stable, loving man. He held her up, kept her grounded and tethered to the real world – even when it was the last thing she wanted.

Especially when it was the last thing she wanted.

Her leaving him now was as bad as his parents walking out on him and as his grandmother dying and leaving him. And she’d already done this before, with Jimmy.

_Except the Doctor isn’t Jimmy_ , she rationalised. Somehow, he was…more.

And even if she loved Mickey, she wasn’t in love with him. And she never would be. If she stayed with him now, she would resent him for the rest of their lives, constantly thinking _what if_. It would make them both miserable and he didn’t deserve that.

He deserved someone who would give him everything he needed and take what he offered. What he represented right now, what he could offer her, was nowhere near what she wanted in her life.

What she wanted, she wasn’t sure, but travelling with the Doctor might clear that up.

‘Thanks,’ she told Mickey.

‘Thanks for what?’ he repeated dumbly.

‘Exactly,’ she said, a little apologetically, wishing she could fit everything she wanted to say into that one word. That if she didn’t leave now, she never would. That she could see two paths stretching away from them, one a safe and happy life, adequate and filled with a constant sense of _what if_ …

And the other a mystery filled with uncertainty and danger and deconstructing those _what ifs_.

And maybe a different sort of happiness.

So she simply leaned up to kiss his cheek and turned away.

And then she was running toward the TARDIS, not sparing Mickey a backward glance. She couldn’t afford it, couldn’t let doubt cloud her judgement again when something in her core told her this was the decision she should have made right away.

As the door closed behind her, every bit of doubt faded away.

She felt a swooping, anticipatory sensation in her stomach as her eyes took in the interior of the TARDIS once more. The first time she had been in here, she had been too scared and confused to pay much attention. The second time, they had been desperately trying to escape an exploding maintenance shaft beneath the London Eye, the death throes of molten alien plastic echoing in her ears.

Now she found herself bathed in green light, feeling an odd mixture of welcome and homecoming in the cavernous room. Oddly shaped struts made of something like coral encompassed the room like a protective embrace. There was a hum in the ship that Rose thought sounded a bit like breathing.

And standing at the centre of it all, looking as if it was his birthday or something, the Doctor was waiting for her.

‘Right then, Rose Tyler,’ he declared, a cocky smile on his lips and expectation in his eyes, ‘Where do you want to go?’

· ΔΩ ·


	4. Chapter Three: Plus One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: As usual, any dialogue you recognize is probably not mine. Though there’s a bit less than in the previous chapter.

_'That’s not supposed to happen.’_

 

 

[ _ **  
**_](http://erthechilde.livejournal.com/41421.html)

He brought her to watch her planet die.

When Rose first realised that, she found herself torn between disbelief, dismay…and the oddest temptation to burst into hyper laughter. Only an alien would think that was impressive and in no way the most horrifying thing ever.

Now, though, she was just numb. Numb and disoriented and complacent as he took her hand and led her back to the TARDIS.

_T-A-R-D-I-S. Time and Relative Dimension in Space_ , her mind parroted.

A space-hopping, time-travelling _telepathic_ space ship, piloted by a mysterious and slightly manic alien that went around saving the universe, stopping underhanded plots, witnessing planets burn and –

The memories of the past hour started their merry dance through her brain again, and she felt the bile rise in her throat in memory. She forced herself to breathe, the shake off the sensation. She was getting ahead of herself, trying to process the end before she had come to terms with the beginning, and that would be useless. It wouldn’t do to try parsing it all now, not until she had had time to organise it all, so it made sense.

And that would be easier when she was no longer on this bloody platform!

She focussed on the squeeze of the Doctor’s hand around hers, rough and solid and the only thing grounding her as he guided her away from the observation deck. Even turned away from the huge window, the harsh red light of the planet’s corpse cast angry red light and shadows across them. She thought about what he said about feeling the Earth turn.

_Can he do that now that there’s no more Earth_ , she thought, slightly hysterical and very irreverently.

No, forget irreverent. She was allowed to be upset.

They were back inside the safety of the ship now, the odd humming noise it made a comforting balm against the clinical, mechanical sound of the platform’s engine. With the door closed, everything else on the outside could be blocked out and forgotten.

Except she couldn’t forget.

She knew now that the memory of how her planet looked as it burst into flaming pieces of shapeless rock would remain stamped in her memories. The way anything she saw or experienced with the Doctor would be. It was a sight that would undoubtedly come back to her for years if not the rest of her life – when she tried to sleep or eat or laugh. The image of the blue and green planet of her home as it was – and then the fiery nothing that remained of it.

The Doctor let go of her hand and headed for the controls, and she leaned against one of the huge support struts because her knees felt like jelly. He started to twirl dials and pump levers, not looking at her, his movements deliberate and economical. He was so free of the boyish enthusiasm that had filled him not an hour before, the joy of their maiden voyage together marred by its end destination.

The Doctor had joked and laughed, showing off as he brought her first a hundred years into her future, and then ten thousand. And all of a sudden Rose had found herself in the year five billion. The number seemed too big to be real, even now that she had experienced it.

They had landed on an observation deck overlooking the Earth. It had been beautiful and breathtaking and impossible. A sight that only astronauts in her time could see, and yet here she was, looking on it with her own eyes and not through a television or computer screen. Except it was wrong, somehow, because behind it she could see the Sun – closer than it should have been – and expanding outward at a very perceptible speed. Soon it would swallow the Earth.

_‘About half an hour,’_ he had told her. ‘ _And then the planet gets roasted_.’

He had said it so casual.

_What kind of man can do that_? Rose wondered as she watched the Doctor pilot the TARDIS. _Probably the same kind of man who’s so chuffed danger._

She remembered his reaction when she had first asked if his life was always so dangerous, and how instead of putting her off the idea it had called to her. But she thought it would all be like taking out aliens like the Nestene Consciousness – stopping a faceless alien invasion, beating the bad guys and saving the innocent. And in a way that’s exactly what happened, but in another way it was a completely different, much more telling experience.

She had been knocked out by a bunch of cloaked robots, nearly ended up incinerated by the expanding Sun and almost left to die on a doomed observation platform by a psychopathic flap of skin. None of which was the worst part of it all.

No, the absolute low point of the entire adventure was realising that the man she’d swanned off with wasn’t anything like what he seemed.

She felt a pang of loss at that, like an ideal had somehow been shattered. Not that long ago, they were both happy and keen on adventure, and now…

She swallowed as the TARDIS began to shake and sway. The movement told Rose that they had disappeared from the platform and were on their way…wherever he had now taken them.

This was insane.

She was just a shop girl.

Ex-shop girl.

If she had any sense, she would tell him right now to take her home, and then run back to the Estate as fast as her legs could take her.

He seemed to sense her thoughts as he studied her and the look on his face robbed her breath. For a second, his expression was so emotionally naked she felt like an intruder looking at it – there was apology there, and pain and – empathy?

How could he possible know what she felt right now?

She had just watched her planet die, watched it reduced to nothing but a memory, and she didn’t even know how she felt about that.

This morning she had woken up, just another one of London’s thousands of unemployed young people. Now she was the only human to have witnessed the utter destruction of the Earth. The last one to see bits of molten core and burning rock shatter in front of her, eradicating the last traces of her people and the planet that bore them.

There was nothing left.

She was the last real human the last of her kind. And she had been so concerned with possibly being burned to a crisp that she hadn’t even given it a moment’s attention when it finally died. No one had. They had all been so busy worrying about themselves to care.

_How do you get over something like that?_ Rose wondered.

Before meeting the Doctor that kind of thing had been so abstract. Yes, she had known that one day the world would get swallowed up by the Sun, but it was the kind of distant knowledge that everyone had. That one day they were going to die. It was a fact, but something that didn’t affect them on a moment-to-moment basis.

_Not anymore it isn’t_ , she thought hollowly.

Now that knowledge was imminent, almost tangible. Along with new knowledge that she could barely grasp. Like how it was possible to exist in a place and time where the Earth no longer existed. And how it was possible to exist in a place where her mother was dead but also alive. With the Doctor, those places and events were so much more accessible.

Her own death seemed closer, too. How many times had she nearly died in the past day or so? And how many people had _actually_ died since she met him? Wilson, the countless people probably killed in the Auton attack, the tree woman, the other aliens on Platform One –

Was it worth travelling with the Doctor if it would be like this?

And the Doctor himself if he was more complex than she originally thought and who she was now beginning to realise was hiding something?

Before she had only been intensely curious about the man – alien – before her, but now it seemed like a matter of life and death that she _know_ him. Right now, she could only wonder who, exactly, this Doctor to whom she had attached herself.

Since meeting him, she had only seen the one facet of him, the one she now knew he had intended her to see. The madman with frantic energy and the too-tight smile, concerned only with showing her how fantastic his ship was and how brilliant he was. He wanted her dazzled by the mystery, impressed enough with his _otherness_ to step into his world but not show her enough that she tried to find out more.

Her memory supplied her with images now, things she hadn’t immediately noted when they first met because she was too hopped up on adrenaline or strong emotion to register. His imperious voice when he had parleyed with the Nestene Consciousness, the sense of command and expectation there suggesting he was used to obedience without question. His cold expression when Cassandra had begged for mercy and the way he had ignored Rose asking him to help her. It had been as though he believed – or perhaps was – the only one in the room fit to judge the once human flap of skim for her crimes.

For the first time he had truly seemed _alien_ to her.

A stab of fear and realisation snaked through her.

She had been stupidly operating under the naïve idea that he was some normal bloke. Someone who was for all intents and purposes human, who happened to have a time travelling space ship and enjoy running for his life. But the Doctor _was_ alien, and that was made exceedingly apparent in his different priorities. He hadn’t seemed bothered when the plastic copy of Mickey had melted, even if it could have meant her boyfriend was dead. And he had talked about her planet being destroyed the same way some men talked about leaving a casserole in the oven too long. Like he regularly watched planets burn, and this was just one more.

That insight made her feel small and brought with it another fear.

What if he was some kind of evil alien overlord, or renegade among his people? What if he had been sent off to travel on his own because he really was that dangerous?

It wasn’t like he had talked about his past – he’d refused to answer her questions and gotten furious at her audacity to ask – so he could be. He could be anything.

_But then…_ Rose heard a small, hopeful voice at the back of her mind, _he could always be the good guy despite all that._

Why else would he have gone through such lengths to save London and the rest of the world from the Nestene Consciousness? And he had been so visibly upset when that tree woman had died when he’d brought the news to her companions. Someone who cared that much couldn’t be all bad, right?

Renegade or not, he seemed to have a complex sense of justice and morals, and appeared to be trying to set things right wherever her went.

_But what if that’s not really him, but him maybe making up for something he’s done?_

The grinding noise of the TARDIS coming to a stop interrupted her musings, and she shot the Doctor a questioning glance, not trusting herself to ask where they were.

He simply gestured for her to investigate, a macabre and grim version of his same earlier movement.

As though someone else controlled her limbs, Rose let go of the strut and made her way to the door, not knowing what to expect.

For some reason, the familiar sight of London was still a surprise to see, especially the sight of everyone going about their day as though nothing of interest had happened.

He had brought her home.

She held the door for a moment, unsure. Despite her earlier fears, there was a moment’s irrational worry that if she walked out of the TARDIS now, the door would close behind her and he would disappear.

That fear was overwhelmed by desperate, more primal need to step out into her world and assure herself that it was really there.

She took several steps forward, letting the reality of it all just wash over her. People rushed about, talking and laughing, going about their daily lives. Cars and buses whizzed past, and old buildings cast looming yet protective shadows onto the streets below. The familiar odour of smoke and rain assaulted her senses, and the ground beneath her feet was sticky where someone had spilled a drink.

Everyone was so unaware, so ignorant of everything. Didn’t they know how fleeting it all was? How fast it could be gone?

Instead of the TARDIS grinding out its departure, she heard the door squeak open behind her and heard footsteps coming toward her. Some odd tension released as he stood beside her, viewing the crowd with her in silence for a spell.

It seemed an eternity before he spoke.

‘You think it’ll last forever, people and cars and concrete,’ he told her quietly. ‘But it won’t. One day it’s all gone. Even the sky.’

She looked up reflexively, the familiar cloudy grey London skyline momentarily juxtaposed with her memory of burning brown and orange fire.

‘My planet’s gone,’ he said, the words as unexpected even though he had been speaking a moment before. She glanced at his face as the ramifications of his words washed over her, her earlier accusations and questions suddenly seeming rude and harmful. ‘It’s dead.’

He trained his eyes on her, and for the first time since she met him, his eyes weren’t guarded in anyway. Instead, a heartrending sadness leaked out, something far more terrifying than his alienness had seemed to her before.

‘It burned like the Earth. It’s just rocks and dust. Before its time.’

It was an effort to speak, to ask the question she needed answered but which she knew would cause him more pain. But she needed to know. ‘What happened?’

‘There was a War,’ he said, giving weight to that word beyond the normal connotations. ‘And we lost.’

‘A war with who?’

He didn’t answer.

Fearing that he was clamming up again after finally telling her something about himself, she cleared her throat and tried a different question. ‘What about your people?’

Surely there were others of his kind to…?

‘I’m a Time Lord – I’m the last of the Time Lords. They’re all gone. I’m the only survivor. I’m left travelling on my own, cos there’s no one else.’

She felt sick now, realisation and understanding slamming into her all at once. For a second she was transported back to that observation deck, the last of her kind watching the planet that she had grown up on shatter into pieces. Swept clean of any indication of the infinite number of lives that had played out upon her surface, their time there to be forgotten by the very large universe.

And that was only temporary, because she was once more standing on her planet, surrounded by the sights and sounds of her familiar life.

But the Doctor had no one left, no one who understood. Except, to a small extent, her.

‘There’s me,’ she told him, knowing it was a paltry replacement for an entire species and planet, but it was all she could offer him.

He looked surprised, and for a moment something like grateful. The corners of his mouth curled into a bitter approximation of a smile, like it was too difficult to get his facial muscles to cooperate just then. She tried to offer him one of her own, intending it to be comforting, but that didn’t seem to work.

Resignation took over his features.

‘You’ve seen how dangerous it is. D’you want to go home?’

And there it was, wasn’t it? The big question, the thing she had been wrestling with since he took her hand and led her back into the TARDIS. Now it seemed more complicated, because of what she knew about him.

Instinctively she knew if she told him yes, she would never see him again. He wouldn’t be returning for her in the TARDIS a third time and that would be the end of the grand adventure. The end of seeing this amazing, broken man’s face in anything but her memories.

The ambient noises of the city rushed in on her; the babies crying and people laughing and the sounds of traffic and the flutter of pigeons through the air –

And she was supposed to just…go back to this?

She couldn’t.

She knew she couldn’t’.

And it was terrifying and she sort of hated the Doctor a little for that, for showing her how much bigger it all was. It was very much a case of “be careful what you wish for” because she had wanted her life to be more, to be bigger. And now it was – and there was no way to go back.

She would spend the rest of her life remembering the Earth exploding, the texture of the Doctor’s hand, her heart hammering as she was seconds from death –

And it would haunt her.

She was ruined for anything else now, in a way she wasn’t ruined even when she was with Jimmy, and it just felt…

Terrifying. Exilerating. Numbing. Shocking.

Disjointed words in her head, her brain still trying to come to terms with it all. Because the universe was so big and she had only seen the tiniest bit of it and there was no one in the world to share it with –

Well, no one except for one person.

‘I dunno,’ she said, and it was the most honest answer she could manage on such short notice. She wanted to give him a certain answer, something concrete, but the moment was overpowering her. ‘I want…’

As her mentally grasped for something – anything – that she could say which would be the right answer, a familiar and infinitely comforting aroma overtook her.

She blinked, looking around for its source.

‘Oh, can you smell chips?’ she asked, cutting him a curious look.

It was obviously not what he was expecting, but the pained, resigned look faded and he was smiling again. Her heart lifted as he let out a weak chuckled, ‘Yeah – yeah.’

‘I want chips,’ Rose decided, and it was good to be certain of anything, even if it was this inane little thing.

‘Me too,’ he agreed with a nod of his head, and Rose could sense the atmosphere lightening and the seriousness of everything fading away.

‘Right then,’ she decided. ‘Before you get me back in that box, chips it is – and you can pay.’

He shook his head and shrugged apologetically. ‘No money.’

‘What sort of date are you?’ Rose teased, glad for a return to their earlier easy banter. ‘Come on then, tightwad, chips are on me. We’ve only got five billion years ‘til the shops close.’

The joke was an effort to prove to herself – and him – that she could handle this life, and the reward was worth it. He was smiling at her now, a real one and not the false, amused grin he habitually wore.

Then their hands were once more joined, and they set off to locate the origin of the aroma.

She could delay the decision a bit, then. Until she had thought it through properly and decided what was important and what wasn’t.

All she needed was time.

And chips.

 

 

 

· ΔΩ ·


	5. Chapter Four: A Hundred Thousand Sunsets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: A bit shorter than usual but I wasn’t really in the writing mood today. Yay for forced productivity :P Also, I'm quite aware of how crappy I am at titles. Sorry.

 

_'Not a bad life.’_

 

Chips paved the way to the first bit of earnest conversation that Rose got out of the Doctor, though that didn’t last long. While he humoured her, even deigned to answer a few of her questions, she still felt like she had learned nothing remotely important about the man.

_Alien_ , she reminded herself. She couldn’t let herself forget that, no matter how much he sometimes acted like a regular bloke

Like trying to distract her from a serious conversation and sudden altercation with a trip to Mt Everest.

And yeah, it had been brilliant, standing together and watching the sun set, looking out at the snow-capped mountains and tasting an incoming blizzard on the air. Knowing that no one from back home would ever get to see this particular sight the way she was at that moment –

But she was far from distracted.

If anything, she was more aware than ever of how _other_ he truly was, and not just because he was alien. There was a nameless quality to the Doctor that was just beyond any concept she could wrap her head – beyond gender or species or age.

She had seen it when he cautiously admitted to being alien, and again when his eyes blazed blue fire in the face of a vat of molten plastic. He had a stare that could alternately horrify as he stared down a murderer or steal her breath with sadness as he spoke of his lost planet. Even when he watched her with guarded amusement, there was so ancient a quality to him she almost forgot to breathe.

That quality was absent right now, despite his conversation choice.

She’d asked him to teach her how to fly the TARDIS, and now he was ranting about why a human could never fly a TARDIS.

‘I’d never subject my ship to the indignity,’ he sneered.

‘Is it seriously that bad?’

‘Let me put it in terms you can understand,’ he said as he closed the door behind them, shutting out the chilling darkness at the apex of the world. ‘Pretend you’re an amazingly rare sports car –’

‘Don’t you mean pretend I _drive_ an amazingly rare sports car?’

‘Nope, would’ve said so if that’s what I wanted you to do. Now, pretend you’re like a rare, fast car – I dunno, what’s the fastest car in the world right now? A Bugatti Veyron?’

‘How should I know? Mickey’s the car buff, not me.’

‘Hmph.’ He rolled his eyes at that, considering something on the screen by the console. ‘Anyhow, you’re this incredible machine with the ability think for yourself and govern your own actions –’

‘I don’t think a Bugatti can do that –’

‘I just said pretend you were _like_ a Bugatti not that you were one.’

‘You’re mental, you know that, right?’

‘D’you want me to explain this to you or not?’ he asked, cross, folding his arms across his chest and jutting his chin out in challenge.

‘Fine,’ Rose sighed, and leaned against one of the coral struts in a would-be patient manner. ‘I’m a car _like_ a Bugatti that can think for itself. Go on then.’

He shot her a look, like he knew she was humouring him, and then continued.

‘Right – frankly magnificent piece of technological and organic ingenuity, fastest machine in the world. Then someone decides it’s a good idea to stuff a gorilla behind the wheel,’ he finished. ‘A blind, deaf, dumb gorilla that can barely move its limbs without knocking something for six, and then it gets the bright idea to drive along the Yungas Road.’

Rose made a face.

‘Right, I got everything except the Young Thing Road. And if that was you putting it in terms I’d understand, I think I’d prefer technobabble,’ she grumbled. ‘At least then it’d be less insulting.’

The Doctor looked puzzled. ‘Who’s insulted?’

‘Um, hello? Human, right here. And you just compared me to a deaf, dumb and blind gorilla.’

‘Why’s that insulting? Humans and gorillas share ninety-eight-point-six percent of their DNA. It’s like me being insulted at the fact I have more in common with a Terileptil than a primate.’

‘A tera-what?’

‘Terileptil. Space-faring reptilian fish species. Got scales and gills and breathe soliton gas,’ he made a dismissive gesture. ‘Point is, I’m not ashamed of that. S’just biology. So why’re you getting all ashamed? At least gorillas have opposable thumbs.’

‘Well I wasn’t ashamed of it, ‘til you came along and every word out of your mouth is “stupid apes” this and “stupid little people” that,’ she grumbled. ‘If I’m just a stupid ape, why would you want me along with you? Seeing as how I know nothing and couldn’t possibly understand your “frankly magnificent ship”…’

Somehow, discussion had devolved into impassioned defensiveness, and she wasn’t sure how that had happened. But she could feel the slightest tone of hysteria in her voice and forced herself to breathe. She needed to calm down before she blew up at him again, in the same way she had on Platform One when her new reality threatened to overwhelm her.

The Doctor considered her now, brow furrowed until it gave way to understanding.

‘Why would I want you along?’ he repeated, and for a panicked moment she wondered if he agreed with her, that her presence there was ridiculous. Then he snorted. ‘Well, that’s easy. Cos you, you brilliant primate –’ His mouth quirked to suggest this wasn’t an insult, but perhaps an endearment, ‘– you have something that few of my people ever had. Only aberrations like me.’

‘Yeah? What’s that?’

‘You’ve got wonder,’ he informed her matter-of-factly. ‘You lot, you look through your telescopes and you look at a supernova –and you see an explosion of colour and light. You see whorls radiating outward in myriad patterns and swirls, pictures in the black. You don’t just see what my people saw: the detonation of a main sequence star which creates a massive explosion that releases incredible amounts of energy.’

He stood in front of her now, no longer preoccupied with whatever he had been looking at on the console, and his eyes burned into hers with sincerity.

It was as if some kind of transformation had taken place when she wasn’t paying attention. One minute he’d been the manic, rude and rough-voiced man she knew, and then in the course of his speech his diction had changed. The Northern accent had faded away as he spoke and somehow became more melodic, more rounded and defined and precise. She remembered what he’d said about the TARDIS translator and thought maybe he had become so fervent that the ship was having trouble keeping up with him.

‘You write sonnets about the dew drops falling off flower petals, instead of talking atmospheric moisture condensing at a greater rate than that which it can evaporate. When you look up at the sky, you make up stories and names and memories for each constellation. Instead of already knowing the name of each star and how much interstellar gas and dust formed the molecular cloud from which it originated. Even things you _know_ are inescapable, hard facts, you make them beautiful. Pain and Death and Time…so many species don’t do that. Can’t do that.’

Rose’s chest was hurting, and she realised that she had forgotten to breathe during the entirety of his speech. She tried to gasp for breath in the least conspicuous way possible, enraptured with the words he spoke and loath to draw his attention back to her yet.

But it seemed whatever had inspired his sudden discourse was fading now because his gaze softened.

‘I am superior in many ways, Rose Tyler – but there are certain concepts that I can’t understand. Or rather, which my mind makes it hard for me to grasp. And I’ve always thought I had more of an open mind than…others,’ he concluded. ‘You and all the other humans on your planet. Even the most unimaginative, mundane of you lot see and experience life and the universe in a way I can only scratch the surface of. Superior Time Lord brain or not.’

Rose’s mouth felt dry, her eyes wide at the depth of that confession. The magnitude of it seemed even bigger as the Doctor’s expression changed. There were flickers of nameless emotions there, as well as those she could recognise with ease – surprise, dismay, catharsis, panic and possibly a bit of shame.

He obviously hadn’t meant to go on a tangent like that, hadn’t expected to open up in that way. Especially considering how much effort he had put into being enigmatic all day, dodging any of her important questions and giving bewildering, non-informative answers to the banal ones.

Although she felt overwhelmed, she could recognise that her reaction to this would determine whether he ever opened up to her again or clammed up forever.

_Don’t make a fuss_ , she told herself. It was like dealing with a spooked, defensive animal. Make a fuss and this momentary bit of emotional bonding would never happened again.

She cleared her throat and offered him a wan smile. ‘That’s a bit pretentious.’

He blinked. ‘What?’

‘”Time Lords”,’ she qualified. ‘It’s a sort of a stuffy name, isn’t it? Wanted to say so before. Isn’t there something less…I dunno, nobbish?’

He snorted. ‘Well, there’s always “Chronarchs” but that one always reminded me of pastry.’

‘…Pastry?’

‘New York, 2013,’ the Doctor told her. ‘You’ll love ‘em.’

‘Is that where we’re going next?’

‘Dunno – we could,’ he replied, bounding back over to the console, and reaching for a lever. Then he paused and raised an eyebrow at her. ‘Or we could always just set it to random?’

‘We can do that?’ Rose laughed, hurrying over to join him. ‘Just…fly randomly?’

‘The TARDIS doesn’t _fly_ ,’ the Doctor said, ending on a sneer. ‘She travels through the Time Vortex at a speed that the greatest minds in the universe could barely comprehend.’

‘Time Vortex?’

‘Transdimensional spiral that connects every spatial-temporal location in existence,’ the Doctor crowed, flipping the switch which Rose supposed would set them on a random course. ‘Sort of like that game Spirograph, but in eleven dimensions!’

‘If you say so,’ Rose laughed. ‘So setting it to random – does that mean we could finally land on an alien planet?’

‘Could do. Or another space station, or a populated asteroid or – hm,’ he trailed off, leaning over the console and frowning at something on the computer display. ‘Looks like we’re heading for a black hole.’

‘What?!’ Rose perked up at that, alarmed. ‘Can we get away from it?’

‘Why?’ the Doctor shot her a puzzled look. ‘Don’t you want to see it?’

‘Er…I guess? I dunno, I thought they was dangerous,’ Rose said, hesitating before moving to stand by the yellow jumpseat. She squinted at the display, but saw nothing but a jumbled mess of indecipherable alien symbols and static. Obviously you had to be able to decipher that to understand what the display showed. ‘Don’t they just pull things in and destroy them?’

‘Didn’t used to be like that. Once upon a time, they could also be portals to other universes,’ the Doctor answered. ‘But now, yeah, they more or less just rip everything apart. Eating and eating and eating until something alters their gravitational pull, which usually takes much longer than anyone on your planet has a concept for.’

‘You keep saying “your planet”, you’re gonna give me a complex,’ Rose grumbled

‘Nothing dangerous about a black hole if you’re a Time Lord,’ the Doctor went on as if he hadn’t heard her. ‘Even if the TARDIS couldn’t easily escape the gravitational pull of one, I knew one bloke who fell into one. Was actually able to shape matter within it to his will.’

‘Yeah, okay, that’s great if you’re a Time Lord, but I’m human,’ Rose reminded him. ‘Unless being in the TARDIS would protect us?’

‘Not really,’ the Doctor said, and began to type something into the computer. ‘Which is why we’re going to get out of here before…oh.’

‘What?’

‘Hm, gravitational pull’s a bit stronger than I’d like.’

‘Meaning?’

‘Meaning we’re going to have to dematerialise fast before there’s too much drag interference,’ he said, then nodded to himself. ‘Right! Gonna need a co-pilot after all. Temporarily, of course. Come here – and mind the wires!’

‘Wait – thought you said humans can’t –’

‘Just shut up and come stand here!’ the Doctor ordered, and Rose shot him an annoyed look before staggering from the jumpseat over to where he was standing. ‘Now hold down that button and don’t let it go ‘til I tell you, unless you want us to blow up.’

‘ _Blow up_?!’

The ship still shook, but now it wasn’t jarring tremors but a gentle swaying, like a spinning top slowly meandering from side to side as it lost momentum.

‘Right! Now we just need a destination to pull us out of range,’ the Doctor called. ‘Time’s more likely to work than space, so –’ He began to crank something. ‘Right! Let go of the button –’ She immediately removed her hand, and the ship seemed to groan in protest. ‘ – and push lever down!’

‘This one?’

‘Yep!’

The TARDIS shuddered, and the lights suddenly went off. They were now bathed only in the brilliant green that emanated from the centre column

‘Doctor?’

‘Hm, that’s not good.’

‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?!’

His fingers flicked across several buttons, flipping some on and turning others off. Distractedly, he pointed to a large green button between them both. ‘Hold that one down!’

‘I’m holding _this_ one down!’

‘Well hold them both down!’

‘It’s not gonna work!’ Rose grunted, reaching and stretching for the button the Doctor had indicated while keeping a death grip on the lever.

‘Oi! I promised you a time machine, and that’s what you’re getting!’ he chided. ‘Now you’ve seen the future, let’s have a look at the past – 1860! How does 1860 sound?’

‘What happens in 1860?’ Rose asked, breathless.

‘I dunno! Let’s find out!’ he declared with a grin, and started cranking something on the other side of the console. The wailing, grinding noise to signify the ship landing began to echo throughout the dim console room. ‘Got to be better than exploding, doesn’t it?’

‘Are you sure you’ve got a licence to fly this thing?!’

‘I told you! The TARDIS doesn’t fly, she – ’

But the Doctor’s indignant correction was cut off as with a final jolt and violent shudder the TARDIS came to a stop. It was a surprising halt, one which felt like nothing so much as a rubber band being stretched to the limit before snapping away.

As such, it wasn’t that much of a surprise when Rose suddenly found herself thrown to the grating. One elbow twinged painfully where it hit the floor and the other elicited a pained _oomf_ where it hit the Doctor in this solar plexus.

For a long moment, silence reigned.

‘Well,’ the Doctor said after a moment, as the last tremors of the ship faded away. ‘That was bracing. Still alive then?’

‘Just barely.’

‘Better than mostly dead, at any rate. Though even if you were mostly dead, that’s still slightly alive.'

‘I’m never complaining about the Tube ever again,’ Rose vowed.

She craned her neck up to look at him, trying to keep a straight face.

He snorted, and instantly she lost it.

She burst into peals of laughter, which he echoed, and for a wonder they were only the slightest bit tinged with adrenaline fueled hysteria. For the longest time, they simply lay there on the grating, bathed in green light, laughing.

 

· ΔΩ ·


	6. Chapter Five: A Bit Less Complicated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a more domestic tone, this chapter. Oh well, can’t all be action stuff. Also, once again we have a bit of Rose feeling insignificant, but we are still in early days, so that’s par for the course. Insecurity doesn’t just disappear in a day, and she’s with the Doctor a long time before that kind of thing is really going to disappear…Anyway, this chapter got mixed up with the one before it, so you might have to go back a chapter and reread just in case you missed something.

_‘I got the flight a bit wrong…’_

 

'Oi! Mind the paint!’ the Doctor called through the door, moments after shutting it in the face of several rather annoyed Roman guards and their less-than-welcoming spears. Beside him, Rose’s shoulder shook and her face flushed, both from laughter and the exertion of their impromptu getaway through the Roman forum.

‘Looks like things are the same in the past anyway,’ she said after she caught her breath.

‘Like what?’ he glanced up, his annoyed glare morphing into curiosity.

‘You know how they say “don’t talk at the movies”?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Well, here it’s “don’t talk at the fancy Roman trial”,’ she chuckled. ‘Only instead of just being asked to leave, here you get chased out by men with spears.’

‘To be fair, they didn’t chase us until you told their leader to cram his helmet up his –’

‘He was the one getting handsy! And called me a barbarian!’

‘You are a barbarian to him,’ the Doctor snorted, trooping up the ramp. ‘So am I. Anyone not Roman is a barbarian, and it’s not as if either of us took pains to blend in. Maybe they figured we were slaves lurking about where we shouldn’t be.’

‘Still doesn’t excuse the wandering hands,’ Rose sniffed, crossing her arms.

‘No, it doesn’t,’ the Doctor agreed.

‘Tell you what, though, he’s lucky it was me and not my mum,’ Rose went on. ‘Oh, speaking of – can we make a trip home? I want to check in on her. And Mickey. We did sort of leave them right after an alien invasion…’

‘Know how I mentioned the TARDIS travels in time? There was a point to that – the point being that we can be gone for years and have it only be ten seconds since we leave!’

‘Oh, that’s great, so I can show up back home older than I am now? Think Mum would notice if I walked in the door with wrinkles and grey hair…’

Not that she was unappreciative of the implications of time travel. It was what convinced her to go with him after all. She could travel throughout the galaxy for weeks or even months on end and come back with no one knowing the difference. It meant she wouldn’t be skiving off her responsibilities.

The Doctor snorted. ‘Still don’t see how it’s a problem, except for your bit of human vanity.’

Rose shook her head. ‘You are _such_ an alien.’

‘Yeah, I am – and so are you, from my perspective, so the point still stands,’ the Doctor grumbled as he flicked the requisite switches and buttons. Despite his obvious unwillingness, the TARDIS began to shake and shift.

‘Alien or not, my mum’s not exactly an angry Roman soldier, so I don’t get what you’re so worried about.’

‘Clearly you’ve never had some alien in velour try to pull you three seconds after meeting you.’

‘She never did!’

‘You can ask her once we get there. Might want to ask after her eyesight, too.’

Before she could decipher what he meant by that, he started in on a long, complaining lecture correlating age and physical beauty as it varied by species throughout the cosmos.

She let the words wash over her, not terribly interested in his roundabout way of saying he didn’t want to go back to London. It occurred to her that this might be the Doctor’s version of pouting – and she held back a chuckle at the idea.

She wasn’t sure if it was unique to his personality or his species, but the Doctor didn’t strike her as the type to sulk. If he didn’t like the way something was happening, he said or did something about it. It was a refreshing change from what she was used to.

Every day of her life had been filled with people complaining about things but not doing anything to change it. Her mother complained about people cancelling hair appointments or the untrustworthiness of some of her clientele, but never tried to make her hairdressing business larger than a home operation. Mickey moaned and groaned about the leaky plumbing and dampness of the flat, but never moved to a new place because it was all he knew. Shareen and Keisha often nattered on about their no-good boyfriends, but even after their relationships ended, they would pull the same blokes with the same qualities. It was as if they understood they didn’t deserve better.

In a lot of ways, it wasn’t in the average estate dweller to change their lot.

Rose herself had been that way before Jimmy. She’d wanted the expensive clothing, the better education, the beautiful travel destinations, but hadn’t wanted to do anything about it. It was reflex to blame the rich kids at school, the pompous teachers, the mismanaged council and ignorant government for her problems. To expect it all to change magically one day.

While for Rose, it really _had_ magically changed one day, she knew that those problems would still exist whether she was on the planet or not. They weren’t going away, and she would need to figure out a way to sort them. Especially if the Doctor decided that he didn’t want to bother with her any longer. He could drop her back in her life without a backwards glance, disappear into time and space and leave her to pick up the pieces of her life.

There was a shuddering sensation, and the TARDIS’s shaking cut off.

The Doctor blinked, then frowned. ‘That’s not supposed to happen.’

_Hm. I guess getting dropped off at home won’t be a problem after all_ , Rose mused, venturing forward to hover near the Doctor. ‘What happened?’

‘Isn’t it obvious? We’ve stopped.’

‘I thought we’d just, er, entered the Vortex,’ Rose answered. In her short tenure on-board, she’d noted TARDIS didn’t shake constantly; it was only noticeable when it disappeared and reappeared, or if they encountered a sudden bout of trouble in-flight.

‘We have – but we’re not moving. Sort of floating,’ the Doctor pointed at the cylinder in the middle of the console. ‘See that? That’s the Time Rotor. If it’s moving up and down, we’re moving. If not, we’re dead in the Vortex.’

‘Which is bad.’

‘Well it’s not good.’ He went rummaging in one of the console compartments for something.

‘So what, d’you need some kind of battery or jump to get us going again?’

‘Hope not, as I’m fresh out – it’s probably just a circuit problem. Still, gotta check it out.’ He straightened up, holding on to a funny-looking visor in one hand, and the sonic screwdriver in the other.

‘Right…well…guess I’ll let you get on with it,’ Rose replied, uncertain. She wasn’t sure what she should do while he fixed the ship. Luckily, or unluckily, at that moment she noticed a more pressing need. ‘Actually – is there anywhere…is there a loo somewhere?’

‘More’n one,’ the Doctor grunted. ‘Huge, multi-dimensional ship, course it’s got a toilet. What is it with apes and always asking such useless questions? “Where’s the toilet?” and “Are we there yet?” and “Does this make me look fat?” It’s like you lot are incapable of thinkin’ before you –’

‘Yeah, right, back to the humans are stupid rant,’ Rose rolled her eyes. ‘Can you shut up a mo’ and tell me _where_ the toilet is?’

‘Closest one’s next to the sick bay. Remember the way?’

‘Not really.’

‘Third corridor on the left, down two flights of stairs, door on the right. The red one, not the blue one.’

‘Ta.’

Rose was careful to stick exactly to the Doctor’s directions, fearing she might get lost if she tried to deviate in any way. Eventually she stumbled upon the facilities in question.

The washroom was a posh room with marble floors and porcelain sinks, and a gorgeous wall-length mirror she examined after washing up. She considered her reflection, trying to figure out if she had outwardly changed as much in the past few days as she thought she had.

She supposed that was as pointless a question as wondering if a person looked different after losing their virginity. Still, she felt as if she had lived so much in such a short time she ought to look different.

She didn’t, though. Whether that was good or bad she couldn’t tell.

There were dark circles under her eyes, the likes of which she hadn’t seen since her days forcing herself to stay up and party with Jimmy. The sight of them made her realise how tired she actually was. She couldn’t remember the last night’s sleep she had gotten.

_Might be an idea to try for some while the Doctor’s busy_ , she decided. _Maybe he can tell me where to find a room or something to kip in…_

And so she returned to control room where she found the Doctor climbing out from beneath the grating with a smug smile on his face.

‘Fixed the problem,’ he declared. ‘Only need to flip the switch and we’ll be moving again.’

_So much for that kip_ , she thought tiredly. _Guess I’ll have to wait until later._

‘Great,’ she said out loud. ‘So, we’re actually going home, or are we – oh. That doesn’t look right.’ She pointed at the view screen he used to figure out their locations. It showed nothing but static.

The Doctor swore. ‘Must’ve unplugged the connector on accident. Won’t be a minute –’

He started to climb back down again.

‘Can you set it to English?’ Rose asked. ‘Might be nice if I can double-check when we land places so I don’t walk onto an alien planet by mistake and get my memories erased. Again.’

‘S’ppose I could do,’ he answered, sounding a bit uncomfortable.

She hadn’t meant the jibe to be an accusation, and so tried to change the subject. ‘Need any help down there?’

‘Nah, you’d be useless,’ he informed her cheerfully. ‘Have to re-configure the entire language matrix, which will take a few hours. Go have a kip, you’re dead on your feet.’ Rose blinked, having not expected that. ‘There’s a decent couch in the library.’

‘Er…okay?’

‘Down the hall on the right.’

‘What, really? You mean I don’t have to crawl through tunnels or climb walls to get there?’ Rose teased.

‘Why, d’you want to?’

‘Mm, no thanks. Tired, remember?’

The Doctor looked for a moment like he was considering something and then decided against it. ‘Right. Well, go waste valuable hours of your life with sleep. Got work to do.’

And he disappeared once more beneath the grating.

Rose stared at the spot where he had been, and opened her mouth to ask if there wasn’t somewhere more comfortable like perhaps a bedroom. Then she shut it again.

It seemed too forward to ask.

She turned on her heel and left the control room again, deliberately keeping herself from looking back in spite of her whirlwind thoughts.

Obviously if there were a bedroom for her he’d have told her, wouldn’t he? What if this was his way of telling her she wouldn’t be here permanently? What if he just wanted to travel with her a few times before plonking her back home? He might decide she was just good fun to have occasional trips with and might just pick her up every now and again.

Or he’d swan off and never come get her again.

She might just have misunderstood everything after all. It wouldn’t be the first time. Like how she had immediately seen herself as Jimmy’s girlfriend before he officially asked her out. Or how she had already nearly moved in with him even before she and her mother rowed about it. She hadn’t waited to find out, she had simply assumed – and in that case, that had turned into a mess.

If there was a bedroom for her on the TARDIS, she would wait until the Doctor invited her to use it before asking about it. She didn’t want to badger him with her “human” needs, which he already had enough cause to complain about –

Wait.

What if he didn’t sleep?

Perhaps the reason he hadn’t offered was because he hadn’t thought about it?

She remembered watching nature shows about animals that didn’t have to sleep. What if the Doctor was like a dolphin or a bullfrog and just didn’t need to bother? Surely some aliens didn’t need to bother with it.

‘Yeah, well, that’s gonna be the next conversation we have,’ she decided as she turned into the room he had designated the library. ‘As soon as I…’

She trailed off as she looked around the vast, cavernous room she stepped into. She hadn’t expected there to be a room larger than the wardrobe on the ship, but it seemed she had found it.

At first glance, she thought she had walked into a private study, like in the period dramas on the telly. Only this one had to be bigger than the British Library and filled with bookshelves that towered far beyond her view. She saw balconies and arched doorways leading to different wings, and near the entrance was place that looked to be a fireplace that was taller than even the Doctor.

There were several squishy looking couches arranged nearby as well as a lone easy chair beside a small end table covered with a stack of books. The topmost upside down as though the reader had just put it down and intended to return to read it at a moment’s notice.

_The Doctor’s spot, I guess_ , she decided as she crept closer to the warmth of the fireplace and the comfortable looking couches. _Alright, so possibly not having a bedroom wouldn’t be so bad…_

Eventually, she did end up kipping on the leather sofa nearest the fire. There was a thick quilt hanging over the back of it, and it made for a decent cover as she settled into the thirsty cushions. Rose set her phone alarm to go off in three hours – she suspected the Doctor might forget she was on the ship if he got distracted – and settled in. It wasn’t long before the soothing crackle of the fire lull her to sleep.

She woke to the sound of her alarm, breaking her out of a nightmare she couldn’t quite remember. She thought it had something to do with a black eyed woman in a corset, some sort of reptilian bat and her father. The first two puzzled her – probably her mind still trying to wrap itself around time travel and aliens – but her father’s presence in her dreams wasn’t new.

Rose hauled herself out of the warm cocoon of the quilt and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

She didn’t remember Peter Tyler – didn’t know what he looked like, outside of the many pictures her mother had of him and her stories. But his face always appeared in her dreams on nights she was overly insecure or uncertain. The idea of him and his presence acted as a balm, a reassurance that despite how she was feeling, everything would turn out.

Her short, fitful nap, however, had furnished her with images of vases breaking and the sound of a car hitting a body.

Rose shivered and tried to ignore the jumping in her stomach.

Unlike what Gwyneth the maid had implied during their sojourn in Cardiff, Rose hadn’t told the Doctor what had happened to her father. Being an observant man – alien – he would no doubt have realised even on short acquaintance that it was only Rose and her mother living in their flat. For whatever reason, he hasn’t remarked on it; either he didn’t care – which is entirely likely – or he was familiar enough with loss that he knew not to pry.

She thought it was a bit of both.

Rose huffed out a breath and shook her head, trying to put the uncomfortable thoughts out of reach for now. Her grief for her father – that grasping, empty ache for something she didn’t even know what she was looking for. Or the Doctor’s grief for the war that had robbed him of his people. Mass extinction was one of those things that people shied away from, tried to distance themselves from.

It was too uncomfortable, too large a thought to have so early in the morning.

_Or night_ , she amended as she got up and stretched. _Or…whenever we are. Well, I just woke up, so morning it is._

She took another quick trip to the toilet to make sure she hadn’t smudged her make-up too much in her sleep. Luckily she had a spare lippy and some mascara in her pockets, and her fingers did for a brush in a pinch. Unluckily, she accidentally turned the tap on too forcefully and ended up sending up a vicious spray of water that soaked her hoodie.

‘Brilliant,’ she muttered darkly, taking it off and wringing it out as well as possible. Her grey shirt was dampened as well, but not completely soaked through. She tied the sleeves of her hoodie around her waist, wet-side facing outward to dry.

‘I swear, if he makes any more ape comments or asks if I dribbled on my shirt, I’m gonna slap him,’ she vowed.

On her way back to the console, she passed what had to be a kitchen and decided to see if she could find some coffee. She didn’t actually really like it – the aroma was fine, but the taste bothered her – however it did the job to keep her awake after a sleepless night. She needed a cup to make sure she didn’t nod off in the middle or one of the Doctor’s lectures, of course. Or worse, an adventure.

Considering the odds of the next stop actually being home or another wrong landing, the latter was the most likely.

The kitchen itself was like no such room that she had ever seen, not even on the cooking shows that her mother sometimes watched. It was also untouched, almost as if it hadn’t been entered in months. Possibly years.

It was easily the size of her entire flat, full of steel cupboards and appliances she didn’t recognise the use of, and thankfully one or two she did. A kettle was a kettle for aliens too, it seemed. After opening several odd metal doors she also found the refrigerator, a stove that didn’t seem to have any buttons and a dodgy looking solid metal box.

‘Food Machine?’ she read, pushing a few of the dials and panels on it. Nothing happened. ‘Must be broken. Just as well, I bet the food would be like cardboard.’

At last she found the cupboards, and inside were a few tins of instant drink mixes, many which she couldn’t pronounce, and an old package of coffee.

_Sell-by-dates probably don’t mean anything on a time-travelling space ship_ , she thought with a sigh. She decided to take a chance that it would still be good and boiled the water.

The rather strong cup she brewed did its job, and so she decided to head back to the console room. She paused as she passed the wardrobe and noticed that on a rack nearest the door hung a pink hoodie in a style similar to her own. She could at least borrow that long enough for her own to dry.

‘Definitely need to bring some clothes with me when we finally do get home,’ she decided, making the switch. ‘And a toothbrush…’

She continued to make a mental list as she headed back to the console room to see if the Doctor had finished his repairs.

· ΔΩ ·


	7. Chapter Six: The Dead and the Damned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **AN:** And, a special guest appearance in this chapter. Let’s see if anyone here who didn’t read the comic _The Forgotten_ can figure out who it is before it becomes apparent ;) Also, just an additional comment: I usually avoid writing about characters who can sing, because to me it’s one of the top five markers of a Mary-Sue. I even shy away from writing about singing for characters who are canonically known to have good singing voices, However, I think in this instance, it’s appropriate.

_‘’Are we friends or foes? I always get those two confused.’_

 

Rose shivered beneath the great coat the Doctor had obtained for her, glad she had grabbed a dry hoodie all those hours ago. This place needed no help in the dampness department.

It was bloody cold in the trenches, and more so standing on the barren, holey terrain of No Man’s Land. The air was damp and smelled, of rot and other things she’d rather not think about. She wondered how people could live in these conditions for five minutes, let alone almost five years.

Still, Rose couldn’t even find it in herself to be annoyed with the Doctor for missing her home time yet again.

The utter mad joy on his face, evident even from a distance, was worth it. She knew he probably didn’t have very many good days like this where for once no one would die. Even their last adventure had had a body count, mostly because no one had wanted to listen to the Doctor.

She felt a mad little thrill of her own go up her spine.

She would never get used to this. One minute they were solving a mystery in the 1920s, beaming aboard alien space ships and riling up stodgy Victorian detectives. The next minute they were in the middle of a French battlefield on Christmas day, organising a football match between German and British soldiers.

Said soldiers were milling around, cautiously mixing and mingling with each other, sharing cigarettes or chocolate, and swapping uniform buttons and trinkets. Others were showing off photos of their loved ones back home.

Beyond the crowds huddling together to keep out the crisp winter chill, the Doctor animatedly went over the rules and expectations. Beyond him, a few of the soldiers about to play checked the uneven ground for any dangerous debris.

_Referee for FIFA!_ Rose thought with a grin as the Doctor used a borrowed whistle to tweet the start of the match.

‘I don’t believe it,’ Rose laughed. ‘I _really_ don’t believe it!’

‘You and me both,’ someone beside her said, and she glanced up to see that a young man about Mickey’s age had sidled up to her. He was blond and blue-eyed, with a shy smile and a nervousness she attributed to the fact he was wearing a German uniform among a pocket of British soldiers. ‘It is a miracle, I think.’

‘Definitely – travelling with him, though, it seems like they happen a lot,’ she told him, smiling in welcome and offering her hand. ‘I’m Rose Tyler.’

‘Friedrich Weiler,’ the young man said, taking her hand. Instead of shaking it, she was surprised when he bent his head and pressed a kiss to the back of her wrist. ‘It is a pleasure to meet you – and may I see, Fraulein Tyler, your German is excellent. Did you perhaps study at one of our universities before this awful war?’

‘Er, no,’ Rose chuckled nervously, her cheeks colouring with pleasure at the sweet, if old-fashioned gesture.

_New-fashioned, I guess, for them_ , she thought, giddy.

‘Never went to university, but working with the Doc – the Brigadier, I sort of…picked it up,’ she mumbled, nearly forgetting the identity the psychic paper had provided.

‘It is a pity,’ Friedrich told her earnestly. ‘I believe you would be a credit to our institutions.’

Rose knew what someone looked like when they were on the pull, but the rakish grin he shot her told her the obvious flirting was only in fun. Peering over his shoulder, she saw that a few of his cronies were sniggering and guffawing good-naturedly amongst themselves. It was like watching a match down at the pub, or as close as they could get. She supposed that there wasn’t much time for innocent socialising in the trenches, so they were taking the opportunity where they could.

It amazed her that even in the midst of one of the worst wars in history, these men had the same behaviours and interests people her age had back home.

_Suppose I never really thought about it before, cos in my time they’re all veterans already. They’re so old and their priorities are so different from mine…but right now, they’re all the same._

A burst of cheering broke through her thoughts, and Rose returned her attention to Friedrich.

‘Thanks for saying so,’ she told him. ‘D’you go to university? Or, well, did you?’

‘Oh, yes, I am the first in my family to attend,’ he told her proudly. ‘I had a full scholarship to the Royal Conservatory of Music in Leipzig. They are holding my place until I return.’

There was a pang in her chest at that.

He might not make it back there. Maybe none of the men here would.

All of a sudden she was seized by an intense, overwhelming need to try to convince this smiling, handsome young man not to waste his life. To find some way to get off of the battlefield and not leave his fate up to an equal chance of getting home or falling to a bullet.

She opened her mouth, but was suddenly nudged from behind and staggered.

‘Oh – sorry, ma’am, I’m a bit of a galoot these days,’ a cheery voice apologised.

‘S’alright, I just…’ she trailed off when she turned and found herself facing a British captain with a bandage over the right half of his face, obscuring one eye; the other half of his visage was blistered and burnt beyond recognition, like he had ended up too close to a hot surface.

‘Don’t worry, looks work than it is,’ he told her jauntily. He spoke like an American trying to sound Scottish, but she put that down to his mouth being so swollen. ‘Got a bit too close to a jerry grenade.’ He reached over and clapped Friedrich on the shoulder. ‘No hard feelings though, hey, Fritz?’

‘The name is Friedrich,’ the young German soldier scowled.

‘I’ll bet it is,’ the captain said. Rose suspected if she could see the captain’s eyes, they would be performing the slow, downward flick she’d experienced on any number of nights down the pub.

She couldn’t help a bemused grin at that. ‘Sorry, and you are?’

The captain seemed to hesitate – a short enough pause she was sure she had imagined it, and then said, ‘Robert Shane, ma’am. Though you and blue-eyes here can call me Bo.’

It was a bit odd that he didn’t introduce his rank, but then, Rose figured he was just trying to be informal in light of the relaxed atmosphere. Across the field, the German keeper made the first save of the game, causing spectators from both sides to cheer.

‘Alright then, Bo Shane,’ she laughed.

‘And who do I have the pleasure of bumping into?’

‘This is Fraulein Tyler,’ Fritz was quick to interject, and Rose rolled her eyes. He was still smiling, but there was a definite air of “I saw her first” in the air.

Bo appeared aware of it too, but he seemed more amused by it than anything else and looked about to comment on that. Rose quickly interjected, not wanting a fight to break out, asking him, ‘Are you alright to be out here, then? S’a bit dirty, and I wouldn’t want your wounds to get infected.’

‘Nah, I’ll be fine,’ he answered. ‘My biggest worry is if the Major notices me. He’ll have a bit of a snit if he catches me out here – he’s the one that sent me to the field hospital, never mind I outrank him. Insisting on twenty-four-hour bedrest, on Christmas of all things.’

‘Well…I’m sure they just want to make sure there’s no chance of brain damage,’ Rose said doubtfully.

‘Heh, I’ll be fine in a day or so,’ the captain answered, and this time his upbeat voice sounded somewhat bitter. There was a curious edge there, one that reminded her a bit of how the Doctor sometimes spoke.

At this point, Friedrich seemed to grow annoyed with the attention she was showing Bo, because he interrupted, ‘Is this your first time to the front, Fraulein? It is rare to see a young woman so close to the fighting.’

‘Er, yeah,’ Rose replied, looking away from the captain’s rueful smile with effort. ‘Sort of…short notice, really. The Doc – the Brigadier ended up here, and, well, I go where he goes.’

‘Of course,’ Bo agreed. ‘What exactly is your position, if you don’t mind me asking? You’re obviously more field ready than the average typist, I’d say.’

‘Ad-adjutant to the Brigadier,’ she answered, trying to keep the doubt from her voice. Oh, what the hell was she going to do if he started asking her questions that required job knowledge?

‘A bit young for that, aren’t you?’ Bo asked. ‘I wouldn’t put you far past eighteen, if I’m not too bold.’

‘Er –’

‘Really, Tommy? Is commenting on a lady’s age not considered rude where you are from?’ Friedrich remarked, full of offence on Rose’s behalf.

Bo snorted. ‘My friend, you would faint at the kind of thing they thought was rude back home.’

‘Yeah, and on that note, I’m getting out of the middle of whatever this is,’ Rose told them both, and turned to stride away.

It annoyed her that in the middle of an amazing show of cooperation and forgiveness, two blokes had to go and revert to cave-man behaviour

She wandered over to where a group of soldiers were helping some of the wounded men ascend the ladder so that they could see the match; a good many of them had bandages over their eyes thicker than Bo’s.

‘D’you want me to describe what’s going on, then?’ she offered.

One of the men snorted. ‘S’lright, luv. Doubt that’d be an interesting job for you.’

‘Sides, wouldn’t want to have to interrupt you now and again to explain the proper rules,’ another laughed.

Rose bristled. ‘Seen enough matches with my boyfriend to know how one works, thanks. Only problem I’d have is I don’t know the names of who’s playing.’

‘I can help you there,’ Friedrich offered eagerly, returning to her side despite the dearth of British soldiers he was surrounded by. ‘I know all those men.’

‘And I’ve got our side covered,’ Bo interjected. ‘Shall we take a whack at it?’

‘Ready when you are!’ Rose exclaimed.

Between the three of them, Rose, Friedrich and Bo set about providing a rousing commentary on the match for anyone who wasn’t able to see it for themselves.

Within minutes the three of them were laughing and joking even as they commented, gaining guffaws not only from one another but from the soldiers sitting around them. It seemed as if the trio had as much of an audience as the men engaged in actual game.

‘S’like going to the theatre,’ the man who’d questioned her abilities to comment on football chuckled.

Now and then Major Dobbs wandered off the field, and when he did, Bo ducked out of his way so as not to be seen. One of these instances, when it was just Rose and Friedrich animatedly calling out the plays, the Doctor jogged past as well and beamed at Rose. For a moment she thought he was frowning at something – like he was uncomfortable – but she decided it was just her imagination and waved back, continuing her commentary.

When Bo returned, Friedrich teased him about ducking his commanding officer and Bo responded with a leer that was equal parts joking, equal parts flirtation. Rose was once more taken aback by the captain’s blatant brazenness, given the time period. She was also quick to change the subject when it appeared Friedrich might take it the wrong way.

She asked after his studies at the Conservatory which got them on the subject of music in general, her brief experiences in her school choir, and their respective singing abilities. Friedrich expressed doubt about the British ability to carry a tune, and that somehow led to a wager made between them.

If the British won, Friedrich would have to entertain the troops with a fitting song. If the Germans did, Rose had to sing (Bo staunchly insisted his throat had been damaged in his accident, which let him off the hook; Rose was sure he was lying).

The commentary turned more heated now, teasing and goading each other as much as they are talking about the match.

In the end, the Germans did win by two goals.

Friedrich cheered and Bo laughed, and as the two teams shook hands with each other, and then the Doctor, Rose suddenly found herself the centre of everyone’s attention. A myriad of voices shouted at her in unison, _‘Sing! Sing! Sing!’_

The centre of everyone’s attention wasn’t Rose’s natural state. While she wasn’t what you’d call shy, she didn’t exactly enjoy being singled out of a crowd and stared at.

Still, a wager was a wager, and so she mustered up the confidence to ignore how much she felt like she had been put on the spot. Hesitantly at first, and then growing in volume, she broke into a slow version of _Silent Night_.

There was a chilling silence for the first stanza, and then to her unexpected relief, a German from across the way joined in. Slowly, others began to join in, from both sides of the camp, singing the song in both languages but each with the same heartfelt fervour.

Tears pricked at Rose’s eyes, because she instinctively knew that this was never going to happen again.

As the song came to an end, there was clapping and calls for another, but she managed to beg off and convince Friedrich to wow them with his musical talents. He started off a hearty performance of Oh Christmas Tree, which the rest of the soldiers and officers quickly took up as well.

Rose felt eyes on her and looked up, seeing the Doctor watching her with a soft smile. It was more genuine than the usual one he wore, truer and – now that she noticed – tinged with a bit of sadness.

She ducked her head, suspecting she shouldn’t have seen that, and noticed Bo had been looking at her the hole time. Despite the puckered flesh on his face, she sensed that his mouth was pulled downward in a bitter frown.

‘Are you alright?’ she asked.

‘Just not too keen on this war, Miss Tyler,’ he answered, but there was something cold in his words that almost felt like a lie. ‘I just know it isn’t going to do any good in the long run.’

Again, Rose was seized by the compulsion to use her knowledge of the future to help some poor soul, but she thought better of it. Instead, she changed tracks. ‘Have you got someone waiting for you back home?’

‘I’m not even sure where home is anymore,’ he admitted blandly.

‘Sounds like you need to talk to someone. Better with a stranger, sometimes.’

He opened his mouth, maybe to refuse, and then snorted. ‘Yeah, why not?’ He motioned for her to come closer and sat down heavily on an old crate. ‘I’m not one to stick in a place long – I like to travel.’

‘I can understand that,’ she assured him.

‘Bet you could,’ he agreed, and now he sounded almost fond. ‘Anyway – ran into this couple in my travels and they invited me along. Saw a lot of pretty great stuff, actually, and we became really close friends. Or, at least, I thought we did. Then they up and abandoned me in the middle of nowhere.’ He shrugged. ‘Well, one of them did. Pretty sure he decided to leave with her and they never came back. Waited around for weeks thinking it was just a mistake, but…’ He trailed off, his fists clenching in frustration for a moment, before he laughed bitterly. ‘It doesn’t matter. They were utterly in love with each other, so I can’t even be angry about it. Still, makes things like home seem kind of impossible some days.’

‘I’m sure there’s an explanation for what happened,’ Rose murmured, her heart aching for this poor man. Left behind by his friends and now likely scarred for life. ‘People don’t just up and disappear for no reason.’

‘They do in my experience.’

‘But would your friends?’ Rose asked. ‘You said you’d become close – did they ever hint that they’d ever do something like that to you?’

There was a lengthy pause.

‘No,’ he admitted. ‘In fact, on the minute chance there was, and he did…she’d talk him into coming back. Or at least leaving a message.’

‘Then maybe something happened to them that isn’t what you think,’ she reasoned. ‘In any case, I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I know it doesn’t mean anything, but I know what it’s like to treat someone bad by mistake.’ She hesitated, and then ploughed on, ‘I sort of left my boyfriend behind to go with the Doc – the Brigadier. Didn’t even really give him an explanation.’ She winced. ‘If I had my time back, I’d explain a bit better. In fact, soon as we’re done here, I’m getting the Brigadier to bring me home. I’m going to make things right. Cos no one deserves to be left hanging.’

Bo’s head cocked to one side, and he shook his head. His ruined mouth quirked. ‘You’re a hell of a woman, Miss Tyler.’

‘Bet you say that to every girl that ends up in the trenches,’ Rose teased.

‘Nope – just you.’

She noticed the Doctor in the distance, shaking hands with some of the other officers on his way back to the British trenches.

It was time to go.

‘I hope you find out what happened to them – your friends, I mean,’ Rose told Bo. ‘You know, after the war? If you go looking for them again, I bet you’ll find them. You’re a tough guy, I can tell.’

Bo laughed. ‘Trust me, surviving this mess won’t be a problem. Been in enough wars to know it’s what comes afterwards that’s the hardest part.’

There wasn’t anything Rose could say to that because she knew it was true. Even if she had never been in any wars, the Doctor had and she had watched him struggle every day since she met him.

The truce was drawing to a close, and so Bo announced it was time for him to shuffle off.

‘Supposed to be in bed, and Dobbs is bound to notice. Pushed my luck already.’ He looked made an aborted movement, like he wanted to hug her, and then winced, like he was in pain. His injury, she expected. ‘Goodbye, Rose. Safe travels, and all that. And who knows? We might meet again.’

She watched him go, inexplicably sad, and a little confused as to how he’d known her name. He hadn’t been around when she introduced herself to Friedrich.

The aforementioned soldier broke away from his comrades who were heading back to the German lines and jogged over to her, smiling with regret.

‘I suppose we must say goodbye,’ he remarked.

‘Yeah – it was so nice meeting you,’ Rose told him earnestly. ‘You know, considering the circumstances.’

‘Perhaps I will come find you, after the war,’ Friedrich offered. ‘The Kaiser will not be at odds with his cousin for so long, I think. In a year or two, all will be well, and our countries will be friends again. I am sure of it.’

‘Oh, Friedrich…’ Rose murmured, hating that she knew different. She desperately wanted to tell him so.

‘Alright Rose?’ the Doctor called, coming closer.

‘Coming!’ Rose shouted back and then turned to squeeze Friedrich’s hands in her own. ‘I don’t know where I’ll be after the war – but Friedrich, promise me something? Don’t get killed. Keep your head down and don’t be a hero. Just try to get back to your university, yeah?’

‘How could I disobey the wish of a beautiful woman?’ he asked, and then before she could react, he swooped down and stole a quick kiss. ‘I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers, Rose Tyler!’

And he darted back towards the German line, skirting around a rather disgruntled looking Doctor.

‘Should I be making comments about pollinating?’ the Doctor remarked.

‘Shut it!’

‘So what’s your boyfriend gonna think about that?’ the Doctor asked as they headed back towards Major Dobbs, who was standing by the ladder leading back into the trenches.

‘Since it happened at least a hundred years before we start dating, I figure he’s got nothing to complain about,’ Rose hedged, her cheeks still flushed. As soon as she got back home, she would have a conversation Mickey…

The Doctor chuckled at that.

‘I can’t believe all this happened,’ she went on, changing the subject.

‘The state of British education is deplorable,’ the Doctor complained, not for the first time.

‘How could…how could they spend one day together and then go back to killing each other the next?’

‘Because you lot are awfully set on following orders, even if they’re bad ones,’ the Doctor sighed. ‘Silly notions about honour and glory and pride…none of ‘em mean anything at the end of a day spent in the trench.’

‘Guess it’s a lesson we still haven’t learned,’ Rose sighed, thinking on the military conflict that were happening back in her time.

‘Well, not all of you,’ the Doctor agreed, nudging her shoulder. ‘But there’s always hope, yeah?’

‘Yeah…’

‘Come on, then, let’s say goodbye and try again for London.’

‘What, fourth time’s the charm?’

· ΔΩ ·


	8. Chapter Seven: Domestics

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **AN:** There’s swearing in this chapter. I originally wrote the particular instances toned down, however thinking about how my mother might react if this was me? Yeah, the swearing is definitely staying…Also, some of you might question the conversation Rose has with the Doctor in this chapter as being too early, as _Father’s Day_ is a loooong way off. I maintain that Rose probably learned something about timelines early on and she was just so overcome by seeing her dad in that episode that she temporarily went mad and ignored them. People do that sometimes. Anyhow. All recognisable dialogue is not mine, obviously.

_‘I’m not interfering because you’ve got to handle this on your own…just this morning you were all tiny and small and made of clay. Now you can expand.’_

 

 

The sound of Jackie Tyler’s palm striking the Doctor’s face echoed across the flat, making Rose and the police officer wince – him in sympathy, Rose in understanding. Rare though it was, she knew what it was like to be on the end of one of those. It surprised her that she wasn’t the intended target, to be honest, but that might have been because the Doctor had been closer. In any case, she would have deserved it.

She couldn’t believe the entire situation.

Twelve months, not twelve hours.

The Doctor had made a mistake – and that was being nice about it – leaving her mother to spend the past year convinced that Rose was missing or dead. Rose had unknowingly walked into the flat is if nothing had happened, with no explanation as to where she had been. And then to make matters worse, in Jackie’s point of view, some strange man had waltzed in after her.

No wonder her mother was upset. It surprised Rose that she hadn’t called in the army.

Not that they would be any more use than the stupid lump sitting there with a bored look on his face. He probably figured he was witnessing another council house domestic that wasn’t worth his time. She knew what he was thinking – she’d seen the disbelieving smirk on his face when she’d denied her relationship with the Doctor being a sexual one.

‘…and I want ‘im arrested!’ her mother yelled, gesturing at the Doctor who still cradled his face while looking stunned and wrong-footed. Rose would have laughed if the situation wasn’t so serious.

‘Mrs Tyler, your daughter is nineteen –’ Rose opened her mouth to correct him, and stopped. She was a few weeks away from nineteen, actually, but having missed a year, everyone would think she was a few weeks from twenty now. It was very confusing, ‘ – and of age of majority and consent. Both now and at the time of her…departure. Any charges would have to be laid by her.’ He glanced at Rose. ‘Do you have any allegations to make?’

‘Of course not!’ Rose said, at the same time her mother exploded, ‘Well she bloody well wouldn’t would she? He’s had her a year! She’s probably got Stockholm syndrome or something!’

The Doctor tried to intervene again before she could stop him. ‘This whole thing is really a misunderstanding –’

‘You stole her! You took my daughter, did…did something to her that she won’t tell me – get out! Get out, get out, get _out!_ ’’ she yelled, and the police officer stood up, probably to lead the Doctor toward the door. ‘Get the fuck out of my home!’

Rose recoiled along with the Doctor at the absolute fury in her mother’s voice.

The Doctor’s penitent expression suddenly went flat, and he nodded once. Then he turned and left the flat.

‘Mum!’ Rose cried in protest, jumping to her feet. ‘He’s trying to apologise!’

‘Ain’t no apologising for the grief I’ve gone through! And _you_ – !’

Rose let out a frustrated sound between a scream and moan and started after the Doctor. She wouldn’t let him leave like this – knowing him, he’d get in the TARDIS and disappear for good!

‘Rose Marion Tyler, don’t you dare– !’

She felt the air behind her displace as her mother tried to grab hold of her, but she pulled away.

‘I’ve got to stop him! I’ll be right back, Mum, I promise,’ she said, trying to impress the sincerity of her words on her mother even as she stepped out the door. She felt like she trapped between a rock and a hard place – needing to ensure the Doctor didn’t disappear, and to soothe her mother. There was a bit of guilt in leaving Jackie again in her state, but her mother and her anger would still be there when she got back.

The Doctor might not be.

The officer chose this moment to attempt to calm her mother again. She heard him talking as she ran from the flat.

‘It looks as if she isn’t in any danger, Mrs Tyler –’

‘You can get the hell out too, you’re utterly useless bastard –!’

There was more yelling, but Rose tuned it out. The Doctor had almost made it to the stairwell, and she had to sprint to catch up with him.

‘Wait!’ she gasped, grabbing his arm and pulling him back to face her.

He was quick to avoid her gaze, and his body language reminded her of a caged animal. She suspected he was leaning heavily towards his default way of dealing with conflict – to run.

_Well, that’s not happening_ , she decided, fighting down her frustration and annoyance over what had happened. Between her mother’s yelling and the Doctor’s instinct to flee, it seemed she would need to be the adult in the situation. And figure out a way that didn’t have him leaving her forever.

‘We can fix it, yeah?’ she tried. ‘It’s just another scrape – got into loads of those together, though, so we can do something.’

‘And what would you have me do?’ he asked coldly.

‘Oh, I dunno, maybe use your bloody time machine?’ she shot back. ‘Let’s go back in the TARDIS and fix this. Bring me back on time so I don’t miss the last year. She won’t know I’m gone.’

‘You s’ppose if it was that easy I wouldn’t have done it the minute I realised?’ he hissed. ‘My ship isn’t a rubber you can use to erase the past. Time doesn’t work that way.’

‘Why not?’

‘It would weaken the timelines,’ he said with an angry huff, like he didn’t want to be talking about this but couldn’t think of a way not to. ‘Bad things happen when you do that. We’re part of events now.’

‘What does that even mean?!’

‘Think about it – we go back, we destroy this entire timeline. We’ll cease to exist and the new timeline will be the one to go on. Everyone whose life changed for better or worse in the past year, that goes away. All good and ill and discoveries and losses and experiences…it’s too large for you to even comprehend how much the entire universe can change in a year.’

Off her mystified expression, he sighed.

‘Let me see if I can make it less complicated. It’s been about three hours we’ve been back?’

‘About.’

‘In three hours, twenty-seven thousand three hundred and sixty babies have been born – and that’s only the human kind. Likewise, nineteen thousand two hundred and sixty people have died. At least four scientific discoveries were made that’ll greatly impact the future. They might not be made again for a long time – if ever – if we go back and change things,’ he told her in a neutral tone. ‘What if one of those is the cure for cancer? What if two people meant to meet each other in those three hours don’t? Or someone who’s meant to do great things in this world is never born?’ He shook his head. ‘And that doesn’t even touch on the temporal laws we’d be breaking by rewriting the timeline. Trust me when I say you don’t want to see what that looks like. What’s done is done. We can’t change it.’

‘But…that’s not fair!’ Rose objected, even though his reasons made sense. This was the Doctor – he was supposed to be able to do anything!

He watched her guardedly for a moment and then shrugged. That smile of his was back on his face, the fake one she didn’t like.

‘Well, if all that means nothing to you, we can try for it,’ he told her. ‘I’m rather clever, me. Could probably figure out a way to do it with the least amount of damage. Not like there’re any Time Lords left to get stroppy with me.’

The casual mention of his dead people gave her pause and made her consider how serious this must be.

Rose had every faith in the Doctor. He would manage it somehow. She would do anything to save her mother the pain of whatever she had gone through in the past year, but –

The idea that it might cause other people pain made her pause.

Who was she to have the hard bits of her life suddenly get fixed? She was ordinary. It didn’t matter to the world or the universe if she was missing for a year, not in the long run. Her mum and possibly her friends were the only ones who would care. But as the Doctor said, if someone important had been born in the last year and she went back and changed them, she might stop their possible future.

_Mum will get over it, once I explain it_ , she decided. Out loud she said, ‘No. It’s like you said. What’s done is done.’

For a moment she imagined she saw something like pride and triumph in the Doctor’s eyes, before it was once more replaced with overwhelming guilt. ‘Right then.’

He started to pull away again.

‘Where d’you figure you’re going?’ she demanded.

He scowled. ‘Well, seeing as how I’ve ruined your life, seemed a bit of a bad move to stay behind and make it worse. ‘Specially with _her_ screaming at me.’

‘She’s upset – and she’s allowed to be,’ Rose defended. ‘I’m…I’m all she has. My Dad died when I was a baby.’

The Doctor looked surprised – perhaps he, like everyone else who wasn’t aware of the truth, assumed her father ran out on them or something – and then even more guilty. No, now he looked agonised.

‘I should never have taken you with me,’ he said darkly.

‘Don’t even – you can’t – !’ Rose sputtered.

‘You’re all she has…no parent should ever have to lose a child.’

‘She’d’ve lost me the night we met if you hadn’t gotten me out of Henrik’s before those plastic things killed me!’ Rose argued. ‘Or if the one pretending to be Mickey offed me!’

Oh, and there was an idea! What the hell had her boyfriend been doing a whole year without her?

‘That was before,’ the Doctor dismissed. ‘I shouldn’t’ve asked you to come along.’

That hurt, rather like a knife being driven into the back of her throat.

‘You mean that?’ she whispered, her voice quiet as she tried to keep it from trembling. She had thought…?

The Doctor was silent for a while longer, and she could see him struggling with something. Then his shoulders relaxed, and he exhaled.

‘No,’ he sighed. Rose’s heart lifted in response. ‘Selfish man that I am…Meant what I said. I am glad I met you.’

‘Me too,’ Rose avowed. ‘And look – if you never asked me to come with, how d’you know I might not have died in the past year? Could’ve been mugged on my home from work, or hit by a car like my dad, or…or worse.’ She offered him a wan smile. ‘But instead, I was helping you save the world and seeing brilliant things and I wouldn’t’ve missed that.’ He seemed mollified at that. ‘So…so stay.’

The uncomfortable expression returned. ‘Rose –’

‘I thought we were gonna travel together. Wasn’t that the agreement?’

‘What, you still…?’

She paused. ‘I…I dunno, I have to think about it. There’s…stuff I should’ve worried about before I left. Stuff with Mum and…’ She shrugged, uncomfortable and frustrated. ‘The point is, you don’t have to go. Please. Stay a bit.’ She sensed him wavering, even if his stance remained tense. ‘Just a day? Just so’s I can figure out what to tell Mum and how to sort this…little mess.’

He let out a bitter sounding chuckle. ‘You’ve a high opinion of yourself, don’t you? Sorting out a missing year in one day?’

‘Yeah, well, you do the impossible every day, so why shouldn’t I?’ she challenged.

‘Fair point.’ He shuffled from foot to foot, arms crossed and shoulders hunched in defence. She expected her words to be brushed off, for him to give her a curt apology and disappear after all. So she was surprised when he nodded. ‘Alright. A day. But I’m not loitering around your flat. Doubt I’d be welcome.’

‘Yeah, er, probably not. Yet,’ she agreed.

Still, she didn’t want him going back to the TARDIS, just in case he was tempted to leave.

Another moment’s deliberation, and she had the solution.

‘C’mon,’ she ordered, grabbing his hand and heading for the stairs with him. Instead of going down toward the blacktop, however, she led him up towards the roof. ‘You can wait up here. It’s where I always go when I need a bit of a think. Or after a row with my mum.’

‘You figure it’s wise to bring me to the roof?’ he inquired with forced levity. ‘You mother finds me up here, she’s likely to push me over. And I don’t generally like being thrown off buildings.’

‘Reckon you’re alright – I bet she’s on the phone to everyone in the neighbourhood right now. Way too distracted to throw anyone off a building,’ Rose tried to joke as they reached the top of the complex.

The Doctor didn’t smile, though, and her lightheartedness deflated. He was still feeling bad about the mix-up.

‘Look,’ she said sternly, pointing out across Peckham’s familiar pattern of estates and commons. ‘That right there? That’s the only sky I ever thought I’d get to see – the only bit of scenery I was ever supposed to have. And you showed me different. So in my book that’s worth missing a year. And as soon as I explain all that the Mum, she’ll understand. I know she will. So stop moping about. I’ll go deal with this little rough patch and I’ll be right back. Alright?’

The Doctor made a face. ‘I’m not moping.’

‘You so are,’ she told him, nudging him with her shoulder, before heading back down to the flat.

‘Rose?’ She paused and glanced back, and he finally met her gaze again. ‘For what’s it’s worth, I am sorry.’

‘I know you are.’

And she did.

Jackie was a furious, weeping wreck when she returned. Rose spent the next two hours alternatively comforting her mother and crying in frustration as she struggled to figure out how to explain everything to her. While the obvious solution was to have the Doctor show her the TARDIS, any mention of him at the moment started off a fresh round of anguish. After ending up with a cold cup of tea spilled over her, Rose decided it was best not to mention him for now.

Still, she eventually caught a break when the telephone rang – neighbours who had seen Rose outside and were calling Jackie to find out the story. Rose understood that as shocked and angry as she was, her mother’s best way of coping would be to call all her friends and unload her troubles onto them. She left her mother to her gossip and drama, seeing that being the centre of attention would go at least a little way to improving Jackie’s mood.

After changing out of the sodden shirt, she promised her mother she’d be back soon, and that if she went anywhere, she’d call or check in first.

Then she hurried back up to the roof.

She was relieved to find the Doctor still there, scowling off into the distance at something she wasn’t able to see.

She hopped up on the low wall beside him, trying to figure out the right way to start this conversation.

When none presented itself, she decided to just dive right in.

‘I can’t tell her,’ she said, knowing he would understand what she was talking about. ‘I can’t even begin. She’s never going to forgive me.’ She paused, then glanced at the Doctor. ‘And I missed a year. Was it good?’

‘Middling,’ he answered with a slight wrinkling of his nose.

‘You’re so useless,’ she sighed, looking away.

‘Well if it’s this much trouble, are you going to stay ‘ere now?’

‘I dunno. I can’t do that to her again, though.’

‘Well, she’s not coming with us,’ the Doctor declared matter-of-factly.

‘No chance,’ Rose giggled.

He chortled along with her before sobering up and stating, ‘I don’t do families.’

‘She slapped you!’

‘Nine hundred years of time and space, and I’ve never been slapped by someone’s mother!’

‘Your face!’

‘It hurt!’

‘You’re so gay,’ Rose sniggered, and then paused. ‘When you say nine hundred years…?’

‘That’s my age.’

‘ _You’re_ nine hundred years old.’

‘Yeah,’ he nodded.

‘My mum was right – that is one _hell_ of an age gap.’ She jumped down off the wall and shuffled away. ‘Every conversation with you just goes mental. An’ there’s no one else I can talk to – I’ve seen all that stuff up there, the size of it – and I can’t say a word! Aliens and spaceships and things, and I’m the only person on planet Earth who knows they exist –’

A blaring sound shattered the relative quiet of the neighbourhood, and she and the Doctor whirled around to see where it was coming from.

A huge, shell shaped object hurtled through the sky above the Estate, trailing black smoke as it passed overhead. It was speeding straight towards the city. Rose watched in shock as it careened past Tower Bridge, curved around St Paul’s Cathedral and then dove for the Thames, spluttering and backfiring. The sound echoed throughout the city.

To her horror, it smashed right through the Clock Tower right before it crashed into the river, spirals of black smoke rising into the air behind it.

‘Oh, that’s just not fair,’ Rose said blankly, while the Doctor laughed in delight beside her.

· ΘΣ ·

Despite their attempts to get down town and investigate, the Doctor and Rose found their efforts hampered by the authorities. With the Doctor unwilling to risk the TARDIS or himself to discovery, there wasn’t much they could do but watch it all unfold on television.

_Like anyone else on the planet might do,_ Rose thought dejectedly.

They returned to the flat, to find it wasn’t as empty as they had left it. Her mother’s best friend Bev was there – with smack upside the head for Rose and a few choice words for the Doctor. So were the neighbours, Sandra and Jason, who offered Rose a polite welcome back.

When Jackie first opened the door to let them in, her expression turned dark at seeing the Doctor. Instead of throwing a fit like Rose expected, though, she grudgingly allowed him inside.

Rose smiled at her in thanks and a bit of pride. Her mother was doing rather well for someone whose daughter had gone missing for a year and not told her.

But when Jackie glowered and stalked away, Rose realised things were far from settled.

She sighed.

As soon as they were alone, with no policemen or neighbours or the Doctor, and she was less emotional, Jackie was going to say her piece. And Rose needed to have a damn good explanation for what had happened.

The Doctor ignored the requisite small-talk, throwing himself onto the couch and turning up the telly that someone had switched to the news. Rose tried to sit down beside him and tune in, but her attention kept being drawn to her mother and Bev’s conversation in the background.

‘…Look at himself, making like he owns the place,’ she heard Jackie grumble darkly, her ear still pressed to the phone. She wasn’t happy about him being there, but she didn’t ask him to leave, which was something at least.

‘He’s got a pair, don’t he?’ Bev agreed.

‘Least it’s not some jumped up musician this time – Rose says he’s a doctor of some sort.’

‘Oh, well that’s not so bad, is it? Could do worse than a doctor…’

’Could do better than this one, though – look on the ears on ‘im! Least wif the musician he was a looker – and I knew he wasn’t about to run off to Timbuktu with her! Not a cent to his name, the prat. This one, though –’

Rose rolled her eyes and turned to glare at them. ‘Really? That’s what you’re talking about right now? There’s aliens in London, and you’re dredging that up?’

‘Just cos you decided to drag him into our lives doesn’t mean I have to like him,’ Jackie retorted fiercely. ‘Don’t know anything about him, do I? You never even told me his proper name!’

‘It’s the Doctor.’

‘Doctor who?’

‘Just the Doctor,’ Rise insisted.

‘Oh, well, that isn’t pretentious at all,’ Bev remarked.

‘Unless he isn’t a doctor at all,’ Jackie suggested. ‘Could be one of them DJs that play music at clubs. Haughty tossers, too jumped up on themselves to go by their real names –’

‘Mum, would you knock it off?’

‘None of your lip, Rose,’ Bev ordered, with the authority of someone who had changed her diapers and so assumed it to be her right to stick her nose in. ‘Your mother’s gone through hell over you, so you’ll sit there and take your medicine.’

Luckily no more seemed forthcoming. Rose didn’t know whether it was because of Jackie’s inability to come up with new insults or because of all the amount of neighbours still filling the flat. All she knew was that all of a sudden, the flat felt far too confining. She found herself longing for the cavernous walls of the TARDIS where it would be easy to lose herself. It wouldn’t do to ask the Doctor for the key to let her wait down there – he was busy watching history unfold and besides, Bev was right.

She deserved it.

Or at least, she deserved a decent amount of it.

After the second hour of evading questions about where she had been, and ducking dirty looks from her mother’s friends, Rose headed for her room and locked herself in.

She leaned her head against the closed doorway, the dulled conversations going on outside still loud enough for her to understand…and wince at whenever she heard her name.

Abruptly, she was furious, and about several things at once.

Rose had wanted to ease her mother into this life. Maybe not tell her about it at all, so she wouldn’t worry, and make up a story about a job overseas. But with the Doctor’s mistake, that possibility was gone now.

And then, before she could even figure out how to explain about aliens, a space ship had crashed into Big Ben. Now everyone was hyper-alert over it all. If Rose said anything about aliens now, her mother would run to the nearest newspaper for an exclusive and the Doctor might end up dissected in some medical facility somewhere.

If he didn’t decide to leave before that.

Rose groaned, scrubbing her hands over her face and throwing herself down on her bed. It was neatly made – a stark contrast from how she had left it – and obviously hadn’t been slept in for a year.

_Poor Mum_ , she thought sadly. Then she groaned.

‘Bloody Time Lord my arse – being two minutes late should be impossible, let alone twelve months!’

· ΔΩ ·


	9. Chapter Eight: Signing Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **AN:** The first part of this chapter was born out of frustration with the sloppy writing of this episode which suggested you could survive a missile strike by hiding in an iron closet as it hurtles through the air. Sorry, RTD, not your finest moment…

_‘You’re happy to believe in something that’s invisible, but if it’s staring you in the face, nope, can’t see it. There’s a scientific explanation for that. You’re thick.’_

  

‘I’m noticing a pattern with you,’ Rose declared. She and the Doctor watched Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North and (if the Doctor was to be believed) future Prime Minister scurry off. In the distance, the growing crowd of passersby, officers and reporters all clamoured for an explanation.

‘Oh yeah, what’s that?’

‘Stuff explodes around you,’ she responded, her tone carefully light. She was trying to ignore the way her legs felt like jelly and her stomach like cotton and the fact she needed to wee –

Because _she had just survived an exploding missile!_

Humour seemed to be the Doctor’s way of dealing with tense situations…she decided to use it herself.

‘I mean, department stores, vats of living plastic, bitchy trampolines, funeral homes –’

‘Oi, you keeping a running list?’ he demanded, sounding injured.

‘Just saying, you leave a bit of a calling card,’ she clarified innocently. ‘Should I carry around explosives myself? Save time?’

‘Depends – how were you at chemistry in school?’

‘Rubbish.’

‘Then no.’ He looked around at the scene of rubble, the only remnants of 10 Downing Street, and then jerked his head in the direction opposite the growing crowd. ‘Come on, let’s get out of here before they start asking questions they don’t really want the answers to.’

‘You just don’t like sticking around for the clean-up,’ Rose teased.

‘Course not! Usually involves paper work…’

The two of them quietly slipped away and headed for the Tube; the Doctor had no money and Rose hadn’t thought to bring enough for cab fare before leaving home. Getting arrested and escorted to 10 Downing Street had a way of shifting priorities.

Luckily she had her Oyster, and the Doctor insisted the psychic paper would get him anywhere he needed to. She very much doubted he was up to walking all the way back to the Powell Estate. It was a suspicion that was confirmed a few blocks later when the Doctor staggered almost to his knees.

‘Are you all right?’ Rose cried, hurrying to help him back to his feet. She looped her arms beneath his arm and around his back. ‘What’s wrong?’

The Doctor looked at her with fond exasperation. ‘S’fine. Just a bit tired from making sure we survived the blast.’

Rose blinked, having not anticipated that. She had expected him to admit to being just as overwhelmed to their near deaths as she was, or finally run out of endless calm and manic energy. But this didn’t seem to have anything to do with that.

‘What do you mean?’

The expression became one that suggested she had done something uncivilised, like dribble on her shirt. ‘Hiding in a cupboard might help you survive an earthquake, Rose, but it’ll hardly help you against a missile. The jolting about alone should’ve broken all our necks.’

Rose’s stomach jumped unpleasantly. ‘Then why…why’d you let me think it would help?’

‘It helped. Put us in close quarters so I could focus on pulling off an old Time Lord trick.’

‘A trick,’ she repeated dully.

‘Yep – can’t do it often. Both cos it’s not a good idea to play about with time too much, and…well, it hurts,’ he admitted, sounding reluctant. ‘Sort of like exercising an atrophied limb and having all the feeling rush back in.’

‘What’d you do?’

‘Put the three of us out of sync with the rest of the world for a few seconds. It’s why it’s a good thing you got us huddled together,’ he explained, grinning at her as if she’d done something exceptionally brilliant. ‘Hadn’t even thought to try it ‘til then.’

Rose felt nauseous at the revelation. ‘So what’s that mean?’

‘Means we weren’t inhabiting the same dimension as the cupboard when it was thrown through the air. Concentration and timing was all it took, but I managed to distribute our molecular makeup throughout eleven dimensions for several seconds. It distributed the damage that would’ve been done to us in a more even manner and made sure we didn’t suffocate in the vacuum of the explosion.’ The Doctor shrugged in apology. ‘You and Harriet are gonna be very sore the next few days.’

‘Yeah, well, rather be sore than dead,’ Rose replied, too shocked at his revelation to brush it off with a laugh. For the first time she realised that there was more to being a Time Lord than just owning a fancy ship. In this moment, he was once again very, very alien to her.

Just as fast as that thought crossed her mind, it disappeared. He was nudging her towards the Tube.

‘Come on, stop coddling me and let’s get back to your mum and Rickey – speaking of, you might call her. Let her know I haven’t killed her daughter. Doubt it’ll warm her up to me, but at least she might not slap me again.’

Rose laughed a bit at that, the sound the result of nerves and still-ebbing adrenaline.

She spent little time on the phone. Just a quick word to her mother assuring her they were fine and that she would be home soon, and they descended into the Tube station.

The Doctor’s lip curled at the packed underground, but he didn’t complain or make an acerbic comments about the human race the entire trip. He must have been more tired than he had admitted,

They spoke little until they reached the flat, but the silence was companionable and comfortable in a way Rose couldn’t remember ever feeling with anyone else.

‘You, er, wanna come up?’ she asked as they walked across the blacktop leading to her building.

‘Not on your life,’ he replied seriously. ‘Don’t think I’m prepared for any more stairs right now, and I definitely don’t feel like evening out the bruises on my face, ta. Just going to head into the TARDIS for a kip, make sure all systems are travel ready.’

The Doctor watched her, wary, and although he voiced no invitation, she could hear the unspoken question in the air.

‘Not gonna go for another wander this time, are you?’ she asked. ‘Last time…’

Last time he’d given her a key, but he’d still gone off without her.

The Doctor looked like he wanted to say something. Whether it was an apology or an explanation or an excuse, she wasn’t sure – but something in her gaze stopped him. Instead, he dug into his coat and tossed her the sonic.

‘Not going anywhere without that,’ he told her.

‘You could always build another one,’ she reasoned.

‘Could do – but superior alien technology, in the hands of an ape?’ his mouth twitched. ‘Would be irresponsible of me to leave that behind.’

Rose grinned.

The Doctor strode away and disappeared into the TARDIS.

Rose remained standing for a while, watching the blue box and waiting with bated breath for it to disappear anyhow. When after five and a half minutes it still hadn’t moved, she exhaled with relief. She slowly headed up the stairs to her flat, stashing the sonic in the pocket of her coat.

Still, when she reached the top landing, she couldn’t help peeking down over the railing once more to make sure that the police box was still there.

She was barely within sight of her front door when her mother came barrelling out of the flat, Mickey on her heels. Both hugged her tight, talking over each other. Jackie was crying again, and Rose couldn’t help a burst of laughter that escaped at being once more held by the two people she loved most.

In spite of the danger that had caused it, this was a much better reunion that the last.

‘I’m gonna go put the kettle on – and hunt down the scotch! Everyone deserves a hot toddy today, even that bloody alien git!’ Jackie declared. She peered over Rose’s shoulder, then frowned. ‘Or has he gone, then?’

‘Course not – he’s down in the TARDIS. He’ll be up later.’

‘I’ll bet he will,’ Jackie grumbled, voice full of an implication Rose didn’t feel like deciphering. ‘Anyhow, got to call Bev, let her know you’re back. And your Gran, she’s been on the line all day…’

Her mother’s voice faded away as she returned to the flat, and Rose shook her head fondly. Yesterday she had thought her mother would never forgive her for missing a year. Today it seemed like Jackie Tyler was much more resilient than Rose had given her credit.

As for Mickey –

He barely waited until her mother was out of view and then pulled her close, planting a firm kiss on her mouth. Surprised, Rose kissed him back, letting him hold her when he finally pulled away.

‘I’m so sorry, Rose,’ he murmured, over and over with other muddled sentences, into her hair. ‘So sorry…thought I’d killed you…don’t ever put me through something like that again, alright?’

‘I’ll try,’ she laughed, returning the hug.

‘It’s over,’ he said, sounding like he was trying to sooth himself more than her. ‘We can go back to the way it was before, you’ll see. People’ll get over all this…well, maybe not the alien bit, but the you going missing thing…you know, I was thinking of moving out of the flat. Maybe a nicer place, closer to the city. Can afford it now, cos I’ve been putting in a lot of overtime the past year. We can get a place with an extra room, for, you know…’

His words blurred together in her mind.

The picture he painted was the exact reason she had left.

A life where everyone could just go on with their lives after something amazing or tragic happened, pretending like there was nothing outside of their own little worlds. Where she would move in with him – there wouldn’t even be an invitation, just an expectation she would slide into co-habitation with him because it was expected.

The universe suddenly had never felt further away, and she felt the overwhelming urge to bolt.

To run for the TARDIS, slam the door behind her and tell the Doctor to take off.

But she couldn’t do that because look at the trouble that had caused the first time.

She didn’t want to hurt Mickey anymore, especially considering all she had already done. He was such a genuinely good man, and if she had a history of being left by people in her life, he’d had it about ten times worse.

Mickey’s mother had left him when he was four years old, too immature to cope with a child. His father had tried to raise him, but it had really all down to his grandmother, Rita-Anne. His father had only stuck around for the government child support cheques. As soon as Mickey turned eighteen he’d gone off on Holiday to Spain and never come back. He was never heard from again. When his grandmother had fallen down the stairs and died three years – no, four years – ago, he’d been devastated.

Rose had empathised. Rita-Anne was more Mickey’s mother than his own, despite her occasional calls, and more father than the man who had left him. She’d been a good woman, although Rose always got the sense she didn’t like her much.

It hit Rose then that perhaps Rita-Anne had realised something about her that it had taken a space ship and a time-travelling alien to help Rose understand. That she would never be the right person for Mickey. Rita-Anne must have sensed that Mickey was more invested in their relationship than Rose was.

It made her feel worse, to be honest.

_We need to have a talk_ , Rose decided, looking into the earnest, dark eyes of the person who – before she met the Doctor – understood her best in the world. _But now’s not the time_.

Especially after she’d been missing a year.

Rose never would have thought her choice to leave with the Doctor would have consequences for Mickey. She’d thought it would just affect her, but no, he’d been accused of murdering her.

_We’ll come back and visit a few times. Then I’ll tell him_ , she decided. It wasn’t the neatest or nicest way of things, but it wasn’t exactly a situation she had ever expected to be in. She didn't know how she was supposed to do this.

_They don’t have a book for this. “How To Break Up With Your Boyfriend After Being Missing For A Year And Everyone Thinks He Murdered You”._

It would be especially hard to convince him she hadn’t left him for the Doctor in the way he thought she had. The Doctor wasn’t her new boyfriend, she hadn’t cheated on Mickey, she’s just gone with him because…

_How do you explain to someone a concept you don’t really understand yourself?_ Rose wondered, torn.

The Doctor was something, but what he was defied description. The whole situation and dynamic felt too big for her tiny human “ape” brain to get around, though that wasn’t much comfort. Rose rather thought the Doctor didn’t understand it any better.

That had been plain in the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street.

He had looked terrified and conflicted, not wanting her to get hurt even though ensuring that would seal the fate of everyone on the planet.

It had been ridiculously easy to tell him to kill her if it meant saving everyone else. The Doctor must have been rattled not to see the simplicity of that decision.

Rose’s hand wandered to her pocket – not the one in the jacket, holding the sonic, but her jeans – where she had put the key the Doctor gave her.

It felt like a decision, solidified.

She would keep travelling with the Doctor, even if it was only a few more trips. She would stay with him as long as she could. As long as he would let her.

But how could she explain that to Mickey? To Mum?

Rose steeled herself.

She’d just have to hope they could have a bit of breathing time. She’d tell the Doctor to give her a day or two, just so she could explain things. He’d given her a day before, but that had been interrupted by the Slitheen.

Mickey had stopped talking.

No doubt he had noticed that she was tense in his arms, and it wasn’t the reaction he obviously wanted.

‘You’re gonna go with him again, aren’t you?’ Mickey asked, voice laced with realisation and bitterness. ‘After everything…’

‘I don’t know what I’m gonna do,’ she whispered. ‘I’ve got to…sort out things with Mum and…everything…but yeah, probably.’

Rose shrugged lamely, and he pulled away. With effort, he took a few steps back, but he was watching her with a pained expression.

‘Don’t go,’ he begged. ‘You almost died today, Rose. He…he almost made me kill you. He couldn’t’ve known you’d live, and I almost…please, stay here. With me. Where it’s safe.’

‘I know it’s safe, Mickey, you’d keep me safe, I know,’ she soothed him. ‘But it’s just…I can’t even explain…’

‘Don’t bother,’ he told her, a bitter, sad twist to his mouth. ‘Should know better by now than to stop you from going places you want to. Just promise me you’ll think about it better this time, yeah?’

And the way he was looking at her as he pulled away, very much reminiscent of a kicked puppy, she automatically answered, ‘Yeah, I’ll think about it.’

Even though she knew she didn’t have to.

‘Good. Now, I’ve got to go have words with that alien wanker,’ he grunted. ‘After all, gotta make sure he takes care of my woman, don’t I?’

There was no acceptance. Not really. More like resignation.

For now, she’d take it.

· ΘΣ ·

Rose was furious.

Even though her movements were quick and economical as she packed her bag, she felt an angry, tight rage at the back of her throat.

The Doctor had given her an ultimatum.

_How dare he?_ Rose snarled in her mind, though she set her jaw all the same.

After everything he’d put her thought, intentional and not, and he figured he could just demand she choose between her mother and him?

What did it say about her that she was actually doing it?

_Not so different from Jimmy after all_ , a nasty voice at the back of her mind said. Rose felt her fingers stumble on the catch of her bag for a moment. It was the absolute last thing she wanted to be thinking, but there it was.

‘…Rose, I was thinking, I’ve got this bottle of Amaretto from New Years’,’ she heard Jackie say, her voice getting closer. ‘Does he drink?’

Rose swallowed, pushing her convoluted thoughts aside. She couldn’t think about that right now. Later. Right now, she needed to find the words to tell her mother she was leaving again.

She heard her enter the doorway. ‘I was wondering whether he drinks or not…’

‘Yeah, he does,’ Rose answered dully, remembering the port they had toasted with in the Cabinet Room.

‘Don’t go, sweetheart,’ her mother whispered, the lightness in her voice all but evaporated. ‘Please, don’t go.’

Rose turned and gazed back at her, struggling to find the right words to apologise. To explain. To do something other than stand there like a moppet.

‘Don’t put me through that again,’ her mother pleaded. ‘I can’t take another year of that, Rose, I can’t – !’

‘That was a mistake, Mum – besides, it wouldn’t be another –’

‘A mistake? _A mistake?!_ How the hell can anyone, alien or not, make that kind of mistake?!’

The quiet sadness was gone, replaced once more with fury.

‘It’s not just that he’s alien, Mum, he’s a Time Lord,’ Rose tried to clarify. ‘That ship down there? The TARDIS? It’s a time machine! You’ll never believe what I’ve seen –’

‘He’s done something to you brain,’ Jackie murmured, horrified. ‘Oh, Rose…’

‘I’m not losing it, Mum, look, I’ve got pictures!’ Rose brandished her mobile, pulling up the tinny camera photos she had taken in the past few days. ‘See, I took these – that’s the Earth in the year five billion – and that’s us on top of Mt Everest – _Mt Everest,_ Mum! And I got to meet Charles Dickens and listen to Cicero give a speech and solved a mystery with Dr Merrivale Carr and I reported on a football match during World War I at Christmas!’

Rose inhaled deeply, having run out of oxygen in her excitement. Still, she felt as if some kind of invisible fire was fueling her, trying to make her mother understand.

‘Mum, this life, it’s brilliant – it’s so, so much more than I could ever have hoped for and I want it more than I’ve ever wanted _anything_.’

Jackie stared down at the picture of Rose and the Doctor on the tallest mountain in the world. In it, Rose was smiling, and the Doctor scowled at having been pulled into the shot.

Something about it made her anger deflate.

‘I was wrong,’ Jackie murmured, sounding hoarse. ‘You’re not infatuated with him. You’re in love with him.’

Of every possible idea to come out of her mother’s mouth – or anyone’s mouth – Rose had not expected that. It was so absurd that she laughed.

‘Don’t be stupid, the man’s flirted with an alien tree.’

‘Don’t tell me I’m stupid, I can – wot, _really?_ A tree? – No, never mind that – the point is, it’s Jimmy all over again, ain’t it?’

The urge to laugh vanished.

‘Don’t you dare bring him up! He and the Doctor aren’t even…it’s not the same! Not _ever_!’

‘Yes, it is, you stupid girl! You’re running off again, with some older bloke, being selfish – ’

‘Are you ever going to let me forget that?!’

‘ – and never mind what I’ve sweat and bled for you, oh no, Rose Tyler is better than us lowly slags. First man who comes about with promises of hauling you out of the shit –’

‘Maybe if you didn’t dredge it up every second!’ Rose yelled. ‘It’s bad enough I can’t stop thinking about it, but every time I think I’m…every time I think I might get over it, that my heart might not hurt anymore, you’ve got to bring it up! And now, comparing Jimmy with the Doctor…’ She inhaled sharply, and then shook her head. ‘No, Mum, this is my choice. At some point, you’ve got to let me grow up. You’ve got to let me make my own mistakes again.’

They faced each other, wariness radiating from both woman, and Rose could see she might have finally stalled her mother’s anger. This was when she might get her to listen.

‘The Doctor…he isn’t a mistake. I promise, he’s…better. And I want more than anything for you to accept this. I don’t care if you’re pissed off about it! God knows, you deserve to be and I’ll take the silent treatment and the glaring and whatever little comment you _have_ to make to put me in my place! But at the end of the day, you’re gonna have to respect my choice.’

Grudging realisation passed over her mother’s face, and Rose felt her heart lift. Finally, it seemed, she’d made a breakthrough.

‘And it ain’t just you that needs to do that,’ Rose went on. ‘He does, too. Don’t think I’m not gonna have words with him about…stuff.’ Like figuring he could just give her an ultimatum to leave her mother behind at the drop of a hat just because he wanted to go see a supernova. ‘But you said you were ready to listen, and if you really were, you wouldn’t be doin’ this right now.’

‘Rose…’

‘We’ll visit every week or so, and even if we don’t, I’ve got my phone topped up. The Doctor fixed it so I can call you anywhere,’ Rose soothed and hefted the bag over her shoulder, telling her mother without words that the conversation was over. ‘I promise, it won’t be a year again. I’ll make sure of it.’

She cast one last look around her room. She wasn’t leaving it permanently, she knew, but something in her heart knew that it wouldn’t really be her room any more after this.

‘Come on, come see us off,’ she invited. ‘Bet you’ll want to tell him off a bit at least once more before we go.’

‘But Rose…’

Jackie followed her out the door, still pleading, half-heartedly in her seriousness, but still without let-up, all the way down to where the TARDIS was parked.

Honestly, Rose wouldn’t have expected any different.

· ΔΩ ·


	10. Chapter Nine: An Every Fifth Day Thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **AN:** And now we have a bit of intersection with _The Shortest Life…_ I took a minor liberty with the ability of the character mentioned in this chapter, but I figured, why the hell not, it’s the Whoniverse, anything’s possible :P Also, in case you read this before TSL, just a mention: I haven’t watched more than one or two episodes with this character in it yet (still grieving my OTP) so I might have her characterization off. Also, in spite of her showing up and everything that entails, I am by no means a shipper of this particular character in any pairing she’s associated with. (I hope that was vague enough?)

_‘It’s not fun, it’s not smart, it’s just standing up and making a decision because no one else will.’_

 

_So much for ten seconds_ , Rose thought miserably. She could practically feel the Doctor’s eyes boring a hole into the back of her head. No doubt he was curious as to why she wasn’t putting up a fuss, but she ignored him.

She needed to think, needed to figure out how to deal with this entire situation, which wouldn’t have bloody happened if he hadn’t –

She inhaled a deep, calming breath.

Anger would not help her get herself and the Doctor out of this latest scrape. She needed her wits about her, considering she wasn’t even on Earth. Even travelling in time, television had at least prepared her to fake her way through certain situations.

This wasn’t one of them.

She was led out of the containment area and into the room where the so-called “galactic traffic cops”, as the Doctor had called them, congregated.

The strange environment was a mixture of a futuristic movie set and the type of human office she had seen on the procedural police dramas that her friend Keisha enjoyed. Levitating desks and chairs were organised along an invisible grid, and instead of desktop computers the alien officers appeared to be using holographic view screens. The windows of the station offered a sprawling view of space instead countryside or cityscape.

Rose was shown to one of the desk units by the officer that had released her. After ensuring the levitating seat could take her weight, she sat down.

‘I’ll be back in a moment,’ the officer told her. ‘Don’t move.’

‘Where would I go?’ Rose wondered out loud after he left, looking around the satellite cum police station in awe.

The people in the station were mostly alien. The officers all seemed to be the same greenish reptilian as the one that had led her from the cell, but that was the only instance of sameness she noticed. At a desk three yards away, a large greenish-yellow blob with tentacles and one eye stock babbled in agitation, while nearby a blue Crespallion seemed to be paying something.

The only remotely human looking creature other than her was an athletic-looking woman with curly hair sitting not far away.

‘There are several documents you need to fill out to secure your release,’ the officer told her, upon his return. ‘Then you can go.’

‘That’s great,’ Rose said, ‘but what about the Doctor?’

‘As I said before…’

‘Yeah, I heard, but I can’t really leave him here.’

‘I’m afraid you don’t have a choice.’

‘Yeah, but… look, he’s with me –’ the officer raised an eyebrow at that, and she rolled her eyes, ‘ – well, not _with me_ with me, but we’re travelling together. My mum even knows, you can call her, once you give me back my phone –’

‘Even if your parent can confirm your story, it won’t make much difference,’ the officer said, in clipped tones. ‘He ruined a private event that was organised by a very influential member of the local parliament.’

‘I thought you said it was a private company?’

‘Owned by a member of the government, yes.’

‘But the Doctor didn’t know that!’ Rose protested. ‘I’m sure if he had, he wouldn’t have flown through that supernova!’

She tried to at least sound like she believed that – considering he’d blown up her job minutes after meeting her, she doubted he paid much attention to property rights. At any rate, the officer didn’t seem to buy it.

‘In that case, he’ll have a chance to speak at his sentencing hearing – something I’ve no doubt he’ll be good at,’ the officer deadpanned. ‘As it is, you’d best call someone to pick you up, because your companion isn’t going anywhere for at minimum three days.’

Rose could see she wouldn’t be getting much help from him, so she sighed. ‘Can I at least get my things back?’

‘Once you’ve finished your paperwork. The office dealing with prisoner belongings is down the hall, three doors to the right.’

‘Is our ship there too? Only, there are things in there belonging to me, and if you’re gonna be sending me off on my own, I need them.’

‘Impounded transportation is kept on the lower levels of the satellite, and can’t be accessed unless you can show adequate documentation to prove ownership. As it is, that particular vessel is being held as evidence in your friend’s trial, so you wouldn’t be able to tamper with it,’ he recited, bored. ‘Sorry for the inconvenience.’

‘Yeah, I’ll bet,’ Rose deadpanned, but the green-skinned officer was already gone.

Rose let out a loud groan of frustration and resisted the urge to tear at her hair. Here she was, stuck filling out forms at a police station who-knew-how-many light-years away from her planet and time. Effectively stranded because the Doctor had decided he would prefer getting arrested to having shepherd’s pie with her mother.

She completely understood that he wasn’t ready to be around people, especially considering Mickey had called him a ‘thing’ and her mum had slapped him. But the fact that he had made her choose between her mother and him?

Added to the fact her mother had begged her to stay, and she hadn’t –

‘Oh, God, Mum… what am I even going to tell her?’ she muttered to herself. ‘Sorry, stuck on a satellite station in the middle of nowhere cos the Doctor up and got himself arrested.’’

What if his trial ended with him being sent to prison? She’d really be in trouble – she had no identification, no way home and no place to stay. What she’d have to do to survive didn’t even bear thinking about, and so she decided the obvious solution was getting the Doctor out of this mess.

‘You look like you’ve had a rough day, sweetie.’

Rose jumped.

The woman she had noticed before had moved to sit beside her; her full lips were curled into a kind smile and her grey eyes were crinkled in something like sympathy. She didn’t look anywhere near as out of place as Rose felt, but her clothes didn’t have the same _alien_ quality as the rest of the office. She wore a grey tunic dress that flounced at the ends and was cinched with a brown belt as well as a curious looking wrist strap.

_S’pose space travel automatically includes dressing weird,_ Rose decided, eyes lingering on the woman’s bare feet. She, too, was missing her shoes. ‘You could say that.’

‘Trouble with your man?’ the woman asked, and when Rose raised an eyebrow she grinned unrepentantly. ‘I couldn’t help overhearing.’

‘Sor’ of,’ Rose admitted, not wanting to get into the more complicated particulars of her story. Instead, she smiled and introduced herself. ‘I’m Rose.’

‘River,’ the woman answered blithely, mouth curling into a wry smile.

‘Well, River, what are you in for?’ Rose asked with a laugh. ‘I never thought I’d ever be in a situation to ask _that_.’

River chuckled along with her. ‘After the fifth time, you stop feeling like an extra in an old Earth prison film.’

‘Really?’ Rose asked warily, wondering how many times the woman had been arrested and if, perhaps, she wasn’t a lot more dangerous than she looked.

River seemed to read her expression because she held up a hand in a placating gesture.

‘Oh, not for anything serious!’ River assured her. ‘Well, I say serious, but serious is relative if you think about it. One planet’s shoplifting is another planet’s high treason.’

Remembering what the Doctor had told her about Velopssian attitudes towards handholding after that particular forgotten adventure, Rose nodded. ‘I guess that makes sense. So, why are you here?’

‘They think I incited a riot on one of the moons down there.’

‘Did you?’

‘Well…’ River drawled, eyes sparkling. ‘I mean, I _might_ have mentioned to one man I ran into – gorgeous arse, let me tell you – that the government was considering a one-child policy that would force thousands of kids into slave labour. But that was it. What he did with that information was his own business.’

Rose blinked and then grinned. ‘Sounds like the time I “accidentally” started my school choir protesting. Not as serious as a riot on a moon, I guess. But I get how people can make a fuss out of one wrong word…’ She shrugged. ‘So, you’re stuck here as well?’

‘Not for long. Right now, I’m just a life-form of interest, just waiting for my mother to bail me out.’

‘Your _mother_?’ She flicked her eyes over the woman once more, trying to assess her age. She looked too old to need her mother to come bail her out of trouble. Perhaps she was one of those rich heiresses, or her species aged faster?

‘Well, my other, sort-of-mother. It’s a long story.’

‘Right… and she’ll just come get you? Just like that? Won’t she be angry for you getting arrested?’

‘Hah, with the amount of trouble she stirs up on her own? I’m liable to get a trip somewhere hot and sunny for my troubles.’

‘Wow,’ Rose shook her head in admiration. ‘If my mum ever found out I got arrested, she’d murder me.’

Rose had gotten into her share of trouble over the years, but aside from getting lectured by security for shoplifting, had never been detained in her life. That one experience of her mother’s fury had made her skittish of even the idea of being properly arrested.

‘Trouble’s a bit genetic where I’m from,’ River was saying, mirth in her eyes. ‘Anyhow, that means I’ve got some time until she gets here, so how about you let me help you out?’

‘With what?’

‘With getting your man out,’ River informed her. ‘You don’t actually want to wait here for his trial, do you? Only you don’t strike me as someone from around here,. I can tell you it’ll be a hard thing to find a place to stay on a satellite. And planet side isn’t much better unless you’re open to selling yourself into indentured servitude.’

‘Um, no, not really.’

‘Didn’t think so. That’s what you’d have to do to pay back whoever paid your bail, so I’d say we should get moving sooner than later.’

Rose frowned. ‘How d’you know someone paid my bail?’

‘Well, you obviously didn’t do it,’ River pointed out. ‘I doubt a tourist would have enough of the local currency to pay their own bail even if it was allowed.’

‘Oh,’ Rose managed. That made sense, at least. ‘Are you sure? I mean, I don’t want you to get into trouble because of me…’

‘Hah! Trouble’s my middle name!’ the other woman declared brazenly, and then shrugged, ‘Actually I don’t have a middle name, but no one’s perfect.’

Rose shook her head with a smile, deciding to just go with the flow of things. ‘Well, if you’re sure…’

With a bit of creative planning, getting out of the processing room was rather easy.

It seemed even disgruntled green men – Amaranians, River called them – were flummoxed at what to do when a teenaged girl burst into hysterical sobs in the middle of the room.

As Rose called up tears and pretended to heave in panic, there was a flurry of movement around her as several officers came over to see what the matter was. Beside her, River had slung an arm around her and was patting her back calmly.

‘First time off-planet,’ she heard her explain sympathetically. ‘Probably not used to being the only human in the room – can I take her to the loo?’

A sobbing girl was obviously a problem to shuffle out sight as soon as possible as a flustered Amaranian was soon leading them down the hall to the facilities. He waited in the hallway as Rose and River ducked inside, the latter flashing Rose a thumbs up once the door closed.

‘Good, keep that up just a bit longer,’ her new friend whispered, keeping an ear on the door.

It was surprisingly easy to do, despite the fact that Rose wasn’t the greatest actress. Neither was she someone prone to random bursts of tears when a situation became difficult. She was amazed to find that the inspiration for her tears was genuine.

What if she really did get stuck here, without the Doctor?

Her throat began to hurt.

After several minutes that seemed to go on for hours, River stuck her head outside the door. ‘Yeah, er, it’s going to be awhile. You sure you want to stand there til she calms down?’ There was a mutter outside about orders. ‘Well, that’s awful sensible. Might as well come in and have a sit down ‘til she’s done then.’

An embarrassed mumble and then the sound of footsteps retreating very quickly.

‘That got him,’ River laughed as she closed the door, and Rose immediately stopped her theatrical sobbing. ‘Universal constant: men are intimidated by walking into the ladies.’

‘I’ll have to remember that one,’ Rose answered, wiping her eyes and forcing a smile.

River’s expression turned pensive. ‘Are you alright?’

‘What? Yeah, of course.’

‘It’s just… seems like you really are upset.’

‘I’m not. All part of the act,’ Rose lied.

River shook her head. ‘No, you’re projecting. There’s something actually wrong.’

Rose froze. ‘How… how can you tell that?’

‘I’m slightly empathic,’ River shrugged. ‘Ish.’

That brought Rose up short.

‘So you’re… alien.’

River laughed, not sounding a bit offended. ‘Oh, everyone’s alien. It’s a big universe. I’m mostly human – but just alien enough to have a few tricks.’

‘And you… you can read my mind? Tell how I’m feeling?’

Something about Rose’s wariness bled into her tone, or perhaps River was reading it, because she made a soothing gesture.

‘It’s a completely automatic ability, sweetie. Empaths read emotions and minds the way humans like you see faces.’

‘So… you don’t always see everyone’s thoughts?’

‘Of course not! I’d’ve gone mad ages ago if that were the case. I was trained since I was little to automatically shield myself. Even the simplest mind is entitled to privacy. With a mind as emotionally driven as a human’s… anyway, no self-respecting telepath or empath would ever look into your head just to mess around.’

Rose reflected on what she had learned about the TARDIS and what the Doctor had revealed to her about their forgotten conversation on Velopssi. Although she seriously regretted not being able to remember what had happened on her very first alien planet, the Doctor had told her everything she had missed. That included their argument about him being able to read her mind.

She’d been impressed, knowing that most blokes would be keen to pretend a forgotten argument had never happened, but the Doctor appeared intent on keeping her trust. Had he not shown that back home when he had presented her with a TARDIS key of her very own? The gesture had been touching and very telling, but at the same time…

‘So what is it?’ River’s question drew her back to the present situation. ‘It doesn’t seem like it’s because you were arrested, or you’d still be in the waiting room.’ She offered a tentative smile. ‘Was I right? Problems with your man?’

‘We’re not like that,’ Rose told her firmly. ‘But… yeah. I’m sort of travelling with him, and we – he accidentally brought me home later than expected and got into it with my mum. And I just needed a bit of time to smooth things over, but he wouldn’t even wait.’ The old spark of anger flared up. ‘He practically told me to choose between them!’

‘That’s rough,’ River agreed. ‘Though it sounds like you’re angrier at yourself than him.’

Rose opened her mouth to disagree and then paused when the idea didn’t sound completely false.

‘I… think you might be right,’ Rose managed, surprised to find the words tasted like the truth.

She was plenty upset about the Doctor forcing her to make such a decision, but she was even more furious with herself at going along with it.

It wasn’t the first time she’d done such a thing, either. While she understood choosing the Doctor over her mother was nothing like what had happened with Jimmy, the fact that he had manipulated her scared her.

It was an unsettling situation. He wasn’t her boyfriend, and he probably saw himself as nothing more than a protective guardian, but there was still an unequal power dynamic to their relationship. One that would make it all the easier for him to influence her if he were that kind of man.

In her heart she knew he would never do something like that to her with malice aforethought. He didn’t seem the type to manipulate others to suit his own purposes, yet her ability to read people suggested that once upon a time he might have been.

After all, his people were Time Lords; that was as imperious and controlling a title as any could have.

_But he’s not like that_ , she thought, worryingly certain. _He’s just lonely._

That same certainty also told her travelling with the Doctor might be the most amazing thing to ever happen to her. But she still needed to decide whether she could allow him that kind of power over her. Even if it was motivated by loneliness.

‘When you get out of here, tell him,’ River advised. ‘If he’s the slightest bit decent, he’ll understand and apologise. If not, chuck him.’

Rose snorted at the absurdity of that notion. If this woman knew the Doctor, she wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss him.

There was no time to educate her even if she wanted to, though, because River straightened up and nodded toward the door. ‘Ready to go?’

Rose paused. It wouldn’t do to meet up with the Doctor and have him notice she had been crying. She took a moment to examine her mascara in the – well, it wasn’t a mirror so much as a reflective view screen.

Everything looked fine, but the futuristic technology made her wonder. ‘Won’t there be cameras? You know, tracking us?’

‘No,’ River answered, leading Rose out of the loo and back into the hallway. ‘When I got picked up I fed a virus into the security system in case I needed to make a quick escape. Just in case.’

The response was something like what the Doctor might say to her, but unlike when he said it, Rose wasn’t comforted by it. Instead, she regarded River warily, suddenly wondering if the woman that had jumped to her aid might not be more trouble than she was worth.

Maybe she was a criminal and was now using Rose as a means to an end. In which case, the ability Rose had cultivated growing up to know whether someone was trustworthy had failed her.

‘Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,’ she began, taking a half step back. ‘I mean, I’m sure I could find something to do until my friend gets released.’

‘Do you fancy wandering around in your knickers and a pair of stilettos the rest of your life?’

‘No.’

‘Then trust me, it’s better we get you out of here as soon as possible,’ River insisted firmly, guiding Rose down a staircase and into another hallway.

But as unwilling to entertain that possible fate as she was, Rose would not be side-tracked. ‘Why are you so keen to help me out, anyhow? You don’t even know me.’

River paused, opening her mouth to say something – possibly one of her ready stories – but meeting Rose’s gaze, she seemed to decide something. ‘You’re not going to let it drop, are you?’

Rose crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow in challenge.

‘Fine – truth time,’ River decided, and reached into her belt to bring out a billfold. She flipped it open, revealing an official looking badge. ‘Agent River Song, and I’m an operative of the Shadow Proclamation. And the reason I’m trying to get you out of here is you’re messing up my investigation.’

Rose’s head spun for a moment as she tried to pick out which bit of information to deal with first.

‘Hold on. ‘Agent’?’

‘There’ve been a wave of disappearances in the past year of humanoid life-forms, and we suspect they’re being pulled into the species trafficking ring,’ River went on. ‘We’ve traced the ring leaders to a galactic bail bondsman service that contracts with several law- enforcement stations. We’ve narrowed it down to this particular station.’

‘So?’

‘So, I’m here investigating it and you being here is messing up my operation,’ River told her. ‘I’m supposed to be the only humanoid here, and yet here you are. I bet they’ve already set their sights on you and that’s why you’ve were separated from your bloke.’

‘Why me?’

‘Well, it’s that whole blond stereotype, to be honest. Next to me, you’re a prime target. You’re clearly out of your depth, and under normal circumstances, I’d use that to my advantage. But there’s too much that’s gone into this operation to put on someone untrained, so I need to get you out of here as fast as possible.’

‘But I could help – so could my friend. It’s sort of what we do, and you’re all alone…’

‘Obviously you’ve never heard of me, or you’d know I do some of my best work alone,’ River grinned. ‘But, if you’re set on it…’

‘Yeah?’

‘Well, first, we need to cause a distraction. A short in the holographic environment projections throughout the satellite will do nicely, don’t you?’

‘If you say so,’ Rose agreed, excited at the idea of a new adventure. River gave her a look she couldn’t quite describe. ‘What?’

‘Nothing, I’m just used to people questioning me whenever I tell them we need to do something. My parents, my husband, life-forms of indeterminate species…’

‘Well, easier to go with it and ask question later, right?’ Rose replied. ‘If we survive, and all.’

River barked out a laugh. ‘Did you learn that from your friend?’

‘Sort of, yeah.’

‘And that’s not ironic at all,’ River murmured, shaking her thick hair. ‘Well, come along. If your bloke’s anything like my husband in a bind, he’s planning something stupid…’

· ΔΩ ·


	11. Chapter Ten: Loose Ends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **AN:** Aaaaand it’s another domestic toned chapter. I’ve got say, I’m actually enjoying writing this aspect of Rose’s experiences. On the show you never have anyone referring to how the people in Rose’s life got on when she disappeared, so I figured they were due a bit of the spotlight.

_‘Oh, that’s just what I need. Don’t you dare make this place domestic!’_

 

Intergalactic species trafficking ring or not, the Doctor obviously felt bad about the whole thing, because he brought her home with nary a complaint. It was a day later for her mother, instead of ten seconds, but they were still there and that was the important thing.

He’d even let her talk him into coming up to the flat, although that visit didn’t last long.

‘See you tomorrow,’ he grunted as he beat a hasty retreat from the sitting room where Jackie Tyler glared at him. She had been slinging cutting jabs about everything from his timing to his ears.

When Rose started to follow him, he shot her a wan version of his usual grin, ‘Said I wouldn’t go anywhere without you and I won’t. So do what you said you wanted to do – sort things with your mum and we’ll leave tomorrow.’

And he was gone, the sound of his heavy tread retreating from behind the closed door.

For a moment, Rose lingered uncertainly in the entranceway, hand inching into her pocket to palm the key he had given her during the last visit to London. It was a warm and comforting to the touch, but somehow it also saddened her.

She felt bad about talking him into coming up.

The Doctor had no one left unless you counted his ship. His own people, his family and friends, even his planet – gone. Reminders of anything even resembling the concept of home must be excruciatingly painful. Rose had experienced an echo of that on the observation deck above the burning Earth, two billion years into her future. The idea of everything she had ever known being obliterated by a wave of light and heat had been suffocating.

And Rose had known she could go back. The Doctor never could.

‘Is that the Doctor gone then?’ Jackie sniffed, returning from the kitchen with tea. ‘Not much of a stayer, is he?’

Rose swallowed and shook herself out of her thoughts before turning a pointed glare on her mother.

‘Not when you’re going off on him all the time. He didn’t even want to come up cos of you, you know. But he did. To apologise. And you barely let him get the words out.’

‘You were gone a year. Himself’s got at least that much worth of grovelling to do.’

Rose opened her mouth to argue when her mother’s words registered. Despite her reservations on the matter, Jackie unconsciously expected the Doctor to be in Rose’s life for at least a year.

It was the closest to approval she would manage this soon after everything. Rose went over to hug her mother tightly.

‘Come on, let’s have a cuppa,’ she said, leading her mother back into the kitchen. ‘Showed you pictures, but I never got a chance to tell you what we’ve been up to the past few days.’

‘Past year,’ her mother grumbled, but allowed herself to be drawn away.

‘How’ve things been since yesterday?’ Rose asked, shamelessly changing the subject. ‘No more aliens breaking into the flat, yeah?’

‘No, thank God,’ Jackie replied. ‘Still, was talkin’ to Bev about getting one of those fancy alarm systems. Wonder if they’ve got anything out there with a setting for aliens…’

‘Probably not, but I bet the Doctor would make you something if you asked nice.’

‘Hmph. Knowing him, he’d set it to _attract_ aliens. Never mind, I’ll stick with the cricket bat. Worked for my mother…’

‘Mickey been by at all?’

‘Haven’t seen ‘im since he left yesterday,’ Jackie shrugged. ‘He said he’s be around, but… well, dunno if he actually will be.’

Her mother had the decency to look guilty for a moment. This time she was the one changing the subject. ‘Oh, it was on the telly this morning – Harriet Jones announced she’d gonna make a try for the Labour leadership. The cheek of it, I tell you! Usin’ this alien nonsense for her career – I had half a mind to call her up and give her a piece of my mind! No one even heard of her ‘til yesterday, and now she’s takin’ the credit for what you did?’

‘And the Doctor.’

‘Still! You should be the one getting the credit for that! I mean it, Rose, if she’s such a chum of yours that she takes all your credit, least she could do is find you a job.’

‘Mum, I’m travelling now. I don’t need a job,’ Rose reminded her mother. ‘You know I’m only home for a quick visit, yeah? Just to show you the Doctor can get the time right. I’m going back with him tomorrow.’

Disappointment flitted across her mother’s face, but she turned away and busied herself with the kettle. ‘Yeah, well, I meant for when you come back. S’like you said – time travel. Travel for months and when you’re done you might well end up here next week. And you’re gonna need a job when you do come back.’

Rose didn’t answer. She didn’t want to admit to her mother she had a stubborn (and admittedly naïve) belief that her days of applying for mundane jobs were over. If she said anything like that, though, she’d start Jackie on a rant about how travelling with the Doctor would give her airs.

Even if it sort of did.

‘Yeah, well, I’ll deal with it when I get back,’ Rose said, biting at her thumb nail in her discomfort. She really didn’t want to worry about that for a while. ‘Lots of people take a gap year and manage fine.’

‘Lots of people finish their A-Levels before they go on a gap year,’ Jackie retorted. ‘All I’m saying, sweetheart, is to make sure you’ve got something set up when you get back.’

‘Right, I’ll just give Harriet Jones a call later, shall I?’ Rose deadpanned.

_Later. Much later. Like, never._

‘Ooh, when you do, tell her she needs someone to show her how to do her colours,’ Jackie commanded. ‘Won’t do us any good to have a Prime Minister who won’t spend over twenty quid on a haircut – that’s what Bev reckons, anyhow. That she’s gonna be the next Prime Minister.’ The kettle sang, and she pulled down two mugs. ‘Might well happen – d’you know what twit they got in there now? Didn’t even wait for the last one’s body to go cold, and they’ve shoved some pretty face in, without even a by-your-leave. They call it “interim”, and all, but still. Didn’t even asks us our opinions or for a vote, and it’s not like we do anything important like pay taxes and…’

Rose let her mother’s voice wash over her, basking in the familiarity of it all. She hadn’t realised that she had actually missed Jackie’s inane chatter in the time she had travelled with the Doctor. Upon returning, her mother had been too upset to talk about everyday matters, and Rose had worried she would never see that side of her mother again.

‘Rose?’

‘What?’

‘You haven’t heard a word I’ve said, have you?!’

‘Sorry, Mum, just a bit tired,’ Rose apologised, the words barely a lie. ‘The Doctor and I helped this woman stop a bunch of alien slavers running an intergalactic species trafficking ring, so I didn’t have time to sleep yet.’

‘Is that what they’re calling it now?’ Jackie deadpanned. Before Rose could ask what she was talking about, she went on, ‘I was asking you if you packed that sparkly blue shirt of yours when you left.’

‘No, I didn’t pack it.’

‘You sure? Cos when I looked I couldn’t find it.’

‘Why were you looking for my top in the first place?’

‘You don’t listen, do you? Told you Billy Crewe asked me out, didn’t I?’

‘And what’s that got to do with my blue shirt?’ Rose grumbled, though usually questions like that meant she her mother intended to borrow her clothes. ‘It’s in the same drawer I left it, unless you’ve been moving stuff around while I was out.’

‘Course not – could barely go into your room most days, could I?’ Jackie sniffed. ‘I wasn’t about to root through your things, even if you weren’t around. Figured you’d want your privacy if you… if you…’

Jackie trailed off and swallowed heavily. Rose winced.

So much for getting over the past.

She crossed the few steps across the kitchen and pulled her mother into a hug that was equal parts apology and comfort.

‘I’m sorry, Mum,’ she whispered.

They’d get better at this at some point – the talking. It had been so easy before she left, and now every time she opened her mouth she worried about reminding her mother about the year she had been missing.

Rose pulled away.

‘I’ll check my room again, maybe it ended up under the bed,’ Rose offered lightly, squeezing her mother’s shoulder.

Jackie nodded, reaching up to squeeze her hand back, but obviously too overcome to speak right then.

She headed for her room, but instead of going looking for the top, she sat down heavily on her bed and tried to collect her thoughts.

Doubt and guilt rushed over her once more. Perhaps she hadn’t thought this through as much as she should have. Should she stay a little longer than a day? She’d told the Doctor she wanted to sort things with her Mum, and after their conversation on the Amaranian satellite, he seemed open to making exceptions for her needs. She might be able to convince him to let her stay for a little longer. Hell, if she decided she needed a week to sort things out, he could just skip ahead and come get her then?

But what if in that week, her mother convinced her to stay behind permanently. What if –

‘ _Where is she_?!’ a familiar, angry voice demanded, and Rose straightened up. She hadn’t even heard the door open.

‘Her room, but –’

‘Here, I don’t want her to see this.’

There was the sound of shuffling.

‘Now hold on there, Sh – ’

‘Not now, Jackie!’

Shareen Costello stalked into Rose’s room with all the menace of a sabre-tooth tiger. It was a considerable change since Shareen was normally one of the prettiest people Rose knew. She was all heart-shaped face, dark-navy eyes and naturally arched eyebrows. The type of woman whose come-hither stare had pulled men from across a packed pub during a World Cup Final. Right now, though, those features twisted into an ugly snarl, and before Rose could get a word out, Shareen hauled back and slapped her.

‘Rose Tyler, you right bitch!’

‘Jesus Christ, Shareen, what the hell –?!’ Rose yelped, one hand flying to her face and the other rising to fight off any other assaults.

‘Where the hell have you been?!’ her best friend shouted, trying to land several more blows on her. ‘We thought you was missing! Abducted! Dead in a bleeding ditch!’ Rose grabbed her friend’s hands and keep them still, but Shareen was still yelling. ‘Me an’ Keisha an’ the gang down the pub, we looked everywhere! And then I’ve to get it from your mum – _you’re mum_ , Rose – that you just took up with a mister and swanned off!’

‘I didn’t – that’s not what – !’

‘Why didn’t you pick up the bloody phone!?’ Shareen howled.

‘It’s more complicated than –’

‘Not telling your mum, I understand, but me? I’m your best mate!’

‘Now you watch yourself, Shareen,’ Jackie interrupted disapprovingly, striding into Rose’s room now. ‘Won’t have you running her off again cos you’re in a strop. Been through all this with her already, I have.’

Rose would have commented on the satisfaction her mother was getting from someone else ripping into Rose if it weren’t for the tiny figure she carried in her arms.

A baby, not much more than a few months, nestled into Jackie’s shoulder, dark blue eyes as reproachful as possible to be at that age. The little stranger seemed to sense that Rose was the reason for the tension in the room, and wasn’t happy about it. She made an inquisitive, annoyed sound around the dummy in her mouth and reached out a smooth, dark hand for Shareen.

‘Told you I didn’ want her seeing this,’ Shareen scowled at Jackie, but released Rose and moved over to take the child. She settled her expertly over her shoulder and rubbed smooth, practised circles on the baby’s back.

‘Shareen?’ Rose squeaked, dimly aware of her mother leaving them alone. ‘Is she–’

‘Your fault, you know,’ Shareen muttered darkly. ‘You went missing. We all thought you was dead. Went to a bar and got pissed. Shagged the first bloke I met, and he wasn’t long in running off. And here we are.’ She smoothed her hand through the baby’s wiry hair, her expression softening. ‘I named her Tanisha Rose. Figured the name should live on if you were –’ She shot Rose an accusing look. ‘Might change it something else, now, though.’

‘I wouldn’t blame you,’ Rose responded, still trying to wrap her head around this new reality.

Her best friend. Hard-partying, offensive and bawdy Shareen.

With a baby.

It was like the world had turned on its axis.

‘She’s gorgeous,’ she croaked. ‘Looks just like you.’

‘What happened, Rose?’ her friend asked, sounding sad for the first time since she entered the room.

Shareen’s rages were like fireworks; outright devastating in one instant and then fizzled out and over the next. It wasn’t like Jackie, who could and would hold a grudge, bringing it up every few days or weeks or months.

Rose was sure this one would probably be years.

‘Your mum won’t say – figured you didn’t have time to tell her yet, what wif all this alien stuff happening,’ Shareen went on. ‘Go on, you can tell me.’

Rose was torn.

On the one hand she was desperate to relate the entire story to someone that wasn’t the Doctor. He sometimes leaned toward patronising even when he wasn’t trying to be. Then there was her mother, who just didn’t get it, and Mickey, who she knew still felt betrayed.

But on the other hand, she knew what the reaction would be. Rose loved Shareen, but her friend had never had an imaginative bone in her body. She was fiercely practical, and if Rose said anything, she would think Rose was taking the piss or worse, insane.

So she decided to lie.

‘It’s… um… well, it’s one of those crisis things, yeah?’ Rose murmured, not looking at her. ‘Everything with Jimmy and Mum and work and the debts and all… and, you know, Henrik’s blew up, so no more job…’

Which had happened almost a week ago for her, but a year ago for everyone else, apparently.

‘Jus’ got so… it jus’ hit me all at once, so I ran. Couldn’t worry about it anymore.’

Rose found that even though she was spinning a story, a lot of it actually rang true. She had felt variations of all those worries. She didn’t know what she might have done if the Doctor hadn’t invited her to travel with him.

‘You idiot,’ Shareen told her, sitting on the end of Rose’s bed and bouncing the little one on her lap. ‘You realise how dangerous that was?’

‘Yeah, I… I didn’t think about, when I left –’

Which was an outright lie. She’d specifically asked the Doctor if it would be dangerous, and that’s why she had wanted to go in the first place!

‘ – but it’s been amazing. Shar, the things I’ve seen… and the people we met, it’s just been… I can’t even explain it all, cos I’m still processing it.’

‘Guess that makes sense…’

‘Can I… can I hold her?’ Rose asked, tentative.

Shareen gave her a considering look, like she was wondering if she should continue punishing Rose, before handing the baby over to her. ‘Don’t think I’ve forgiving you, yet.’

‘Course not – oof, she’s solid, ain’t she?’

‘And she’s a stubborn little fool, too. It’s why the name fits so much, I figured. Not like the bloody coward who run out on her,’ Shareen sniffed. ‘Speakin’ of blokes – saw yours marching across the street on my way over. Can sor’ of see why you ran off with him. He’s well fit!’

‘Yeah, well, it’s not like that.’

‘Bullshit – it true what they say about older blokes?’

‘Huh?’ Rose asked, craning her neck away from a fat baby finger that made to grab at her hoop earrings.

‘The sex, Rose, is it good?’

‘I’m _not_ shagging the Doctor!’ Rose protested, starting off loud and going quiet when it occurred to her Jackie might be hear her out in the living room.

‘Yeah, right, pull the other one – s’got bells on it.’

‘I’m serious!’

‘Then you’re seriously stupid, cos he’s looks like he’d be good.’

‘No wonder you ended up pregnant, all you think about is sex,’ Rose snorted.

‘Oh my God! I can’t believe you just said that!’ Shareen cried, equal parts scandalised, amused and offended.

Rose grinned, and just like that it was as if the past few days (and year) hadn’t happened.

She spent the next two hours regaling Shareen with a heavily edited version of her adventures with the Doctor. It was hard not to mention time travel or aliens in any capacity.

She turned the trip to the end of the world into a trip to Tropics. She still had the sunburn from that and technically she had seen trees, even if they had walked and talked). Her brief stint on Mt Everest became a mountain climbing expedition in a lesser known area. The incident in Cardiff became pranksters at Christmas and going to see _A Christmas Carol_ at the theatre. She talked about visiting a jungle somewhere in Asia and having a drink that resulted in such a strong hangover she didn’t even remember the full experience.

‘Bring me back some of that next time!’ Shareen crowed.

The trip to see Cicero became a touristy trip to Rome, the Christmas Truce commentating on a casual football match in France. She passed off their visit with Dr Merrivale Carr as a visit to the country with a friend of the Doctor’s before returning home.

Eventually Shareen had to leave. She worked at a twenty-four-hour call centre now, instead of the fast-food restaurant Rose remembered from before she’d left.

‘D’you, er, want me to keep an eye on her while you’re out?’ Rose asked, a bit uncertain as she glanced at the baby. That’s what you did when one of your mates had a baby, right? Offer to babysit?

‘Thanks, Tyler, but she’s got a place at the crèche Keisha’s cousin owns,’ Shareen snorted, then shoved a finger in Rose’s face. ‘But don’t think I’m forgetting that offer. I’m due a night on the town in a bit, so when I call, you’ll bloody well answer!’

_Oh, yeah, the Doctor will love that one_ , Rose thought grimly. _Breaks out in hives at the mere idea of domestic, and that’s just the possibility of dinner with my mum. Babysitting… I bet he’d have a heart attack. Well…_ hearts _attack._

Out loud, however, she said, ‘Of course – if I’m in town. We’re off again this week, though.’

‘Oh yeah? Where’re you going this time?’

‘Dunno, really. He usually just makes it up as he goes along. Bit like throwing darts at a map of the world, really.’

She thought Shareen might be watching her with a little envy, but as Rose’s eyes drew back to the child in her arms. It seemed her friend had had a different sort of adventure. Unbidden, the Doctor’s words about time lines and erasing people came back to her, and she experienced an overwhelming relief that the little girl still existed.

‘Well, wherever you end up, next time take pictures,’ Shareen ordered. ‘And next time I see you, you’d better be introducing me to your bloke. I’ve got a few choice words for him.’

‘Not my bloke, Shareen.’

‘Sure, Rose – I believe you. Thousands wouldn’t, but I do,’ she winked, and swept from the room, her daughter snug in her arms.

Watching her friend leave, it was as if she’d been offered a premonition of what her life would be if she decided not to travel with the Doctor. It wasn’t a bad life. In fact, despite the difficulty in it, she had the sneaking suspicion Shareen wouldn’t change her circumstances for all the world.

But it wasn’t what Rose wanted.

The lure of adventure and danger blocked out everything past the next day, and the idea of any other kind of future seemed lacklustre to her.

Smiling at finally having a concrete sense of certainty, Rose crossed her room and began rummaging around in her jewellery box. She needed a strong chain for the TARDIS key the Doctor had given her.

She wanted it to always be within easy reach.

· ΔΩ ·


	12. Chapter Eleven: Life Choices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place right before the first chapter of _Parched_. Sorry for the confusing update schedule…Also, this one was written in response to all those people out there who have this rather naïve belief that Rose was some kind of “Virgin Rose” before she met the Doctor. I’ve read more than one fic where it’s suggested Rose never slept with Jimmy or Mickey, so that she can be ripe and virginal for the Doctor’s plucking at some later date in the story (after they have been married in a church, of course). I find this offensive to the characters, to their relationships and to the overall credibility of the situation, and so in defiance of those writers, you got this chapter.  
>  **AN2:** The chronology for the TSL ‘verse has been completed up to _Parched_ (non-inclusive) _,_ so if you want a detailed look at how the stories fit together, check out my livejournal under _Chronology by Chapter_. And if you feel like leaving comments there or adding me, that’s cool too :)  
> 

_‘You’re not gonna go off on any adventures without me, are you?’_  

 Rose turned around in a wobbly circle, trying to reach one hand up her back as far as possible to undo the laces of the corset. She forced herself to stand still, body angled across from the mirror in the wardrobe. It took some effort to crane her neck, trying to see if her fingers were any closer to getting to the knot at the top of the garment.

Although getting herself into the primitive torture device had been a lot harder, she was tired and clumsy and didn’t want to fight to get out of her clothes. Right as she was about to give up, and either track down the Doctor to do it for her (and wouldn’t that be a fun conversation!) or just sleep in the damn thing, she managed to get a finger hooked into the laces and pull.

The ties loosened, and the stuffy pressure that had encased her lungs the past few days released.

‘Surprised I didn’t pass out cos of this, with all the running we did,’ she grumbled. She shimmied out of the thing and nudged it away with her feet. There had to be better clothes in the wardrobe. Things that would fit in with wherever the Doctor landed them and which didn’t make her feet bleed or cramp her lungs.

_Should maybe take him up on that offer to make me a perception filter_ , she mused, but dismissed it. Minute discomfort or not, she enjoyed dressing up. And the flowing white number she’d worn to the maiden voyage of the _Titanic_ – the actual _Titanic_! _–_ had been gorgeous. She hoped she would get another chance to wear it one day.

Maybe they would one day return to Southampton and visit the Daniels’ family, long after the sinking. She wondered if their housekeeper, Clara, would be there as well, since her employers hadn’t boarded the doomed ship. Perhaps she would still go on to Cardiff as planned. Rose imagined Clara would be convinced to stay – it was better to have a sure job than face the uncertainty of a possible opportunity somewhere else; Rose knew that from experience.

Then again, Clara hadn’t seemed like the type to fear uncertainty. Or very much of anything, despite her upbringing. She’d helped Rose deal with several ruffians trying to lure them into a dark alley. She’d also saved the Doctor from a frenzied vitavore with nothing more than an iron bedpan.

_Whatever happens to her, hope she has a good life. I’m glad I got a chance to meet her. The Danielses too, even if they were a bit snobbish._

The opportunity to get to know famous people like Charles Dickens was an obvious advantage to travelling with the Doctor. But she appreciated being able to talk to ordinary, everyday people as well. Even if she was fast becoming aware of the fact that there was no such thing as an ordinary person.

Like Gwyneth, the servant girl from Cardiff they had met two weeks before, who had visions and who had saved them all in the end. Or Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North who had gone from a backbencher to a leader in the midst of a crisis and acted when the Doctor wouldn’t.

Still, people not as all-encompassing as the Doctor were hard to come by. He commanded the attention and energy in a room full of people. As much as she liked the Doctor when he wasn’t in one of his overly superior, critical moods, it was nice to have a few hours away from him. To hang around with someone closer to her level of energy and intellect.

She got the sense that the Doctor had never done anything mundane in his life. She bet he’d never had to work a tedious job just to get by and with little appreciation from his superiors. Clara had known, and Gwyneth too. They had been people that Rose related to – utterly ordinary, and yet capable if only given a chance.

_Of course, Gwyneth’s visions didn’t exactly qualify as ordinary…_

Her fingers slipped on the catch of jeans as she shivered.

It was weeks later, and Rose still couldn’t help that reaction when she remembered the faraway look in the other girl’s eyes. There wasn’t anything in Rose’s past that should have made Gwyneth look at her like that. It still occasionally made her wonder if the Welsh girl hadn’t seen something in Rose’s future. Especially late at night when she couldn’t fall asleep.

Something in her future that was far from good.

She swallowed and shook her head.

_Just being silly. If there were something bad going to happen, the Doctor would say, wouldn’t he? I mean, he’s a Time Lord, shouldn’t he know the future or something like that?_

It was a constant source of speculation as to what exactly a Time Lord did or could do. The name sounded pretentious, and she’d told him so. Though he had nothing in the way of modesty, he didn’t brag about exactly what he could do either. She often felt like she was travelling with some kind of superhero who only decided to reveal his abilities to her as needed.

Or as he remembered them. Like he wasn’t exactly sure what he was capable of and only thought to figure it out as he went. Which was both humbling and mildly alarming. Not only did it reminder her just how complex his brain was – and it would have to be, if he forgot even his own long list of impressive skills – but it also suggested to her that the Doctor could do anything.

_Well, almost anything_ , she added, trying to lighten her thoughts. _Pretty sure he’s utterly incapable to land somewhere boring._

Well, that and trying to control the TARDIS.

Rose still wasn’t completely sold on the living ship. But she’d have to be blind if she hadn’t discovered that the TARDIS had a mind and will of her own.

All the same, it was a dangerous notion to have about a man, and she’d fallen into that trick with Jimmy.

What would happen when one day, it turned out there was something he couldn’t do, and it got them killed?

Her stomach flipped uncomfortably at that, and she made herself put it out of her mind.

It wouldn’t do to focus about things she had no control over. It would just tarnish an otherwise fantastic life with fear, and she’d wasted enough of hers already to want that. It was better to just assume he was able to do anything until then.

She reached for the jacket she’d worn on to the TARDIS and slung it over her arm to bring back to her room.

Then realised that there was something in the pocket.

She pulled it out with a frown.

And watched in disbelief, followed by embarrassed realisation, as she slowly extricated a strip of condoms.

‘Oh my God!’ she choked. ‘I’m going to kill her!’

She shoved the offending object back into her hoodie and looked around, in case the Doctor happened to be lurking anywhere within the wardrobe. Not that he would, she’d never actually seen him in there, but still. She fumbled in her jeans for her superphone, checking to make sure it was still properly synced. The Doctor had showed her that she just had to go in and change the date and time manually before hitting speed dial.

There were two rings before the phone in the flat was picked up.

‘Hello?’ she heard her mother answer.

‘Mum, what the hell were you thinking?’ she demanded without even a greeting.

‘Oh, now what’ve I done?’ Jackie complained.

‘Condoms in my pocket? _Really_?’

‘Well, how’m I supposed to know if you’re being safe? Can’t bloody well control anything you do, that’s obvious, but at least I’ll have peace of mind knowing I did my best –’

‘We’re not sleeping together!’ Rose cried. ‘It’s not like that, _at all_!’

‘S’what you said about Mickey, too. If he wasn’t such a bad liar, I’d’ve never known – ’

‘It’s none of your business!’

‘It’s my business if you end up pregnant or laying alien baby eggs!’

‘God, Mum, don’t be disgusting – he’s not – he doesn’t – we’re not – !’

Words were actively failing her now as she tried to figure out whether she wanted to laugh or yell some more.

‘Might not be now, but I’ve seen the way you look at ‘im,’ her mother sniffed. ‘Besides, he’s alien, you never know if he might decide to do all sorts of… alien stuff. Wouldn’t you rather be prepared so you don’t end up with alien babies ripping out of your chest?’

‘You’ve been watching bad science fiction movies, haven’t you?’

‘I’m just trying to understand your life, sweetheart!’

‘That’s not my life! And the Doctor and me, we’re not shagging or thinking about shagging or anything else you can come up wif! We’re mates – best mates – and that’s it! Cor, Mickey and I haven’t even broken up!’

‘Wot, really?’ Jackie asked, sounding stunned. ‘Even after you being missing a year?’

All Rose’s energy left her, and she sighed. ‘Yeah. We just… haven’t had time to talk.’

‘And what was last night then?’ her mother demanded.

Rose blinked, before she remembered that their perceptions of time were a little different. What had happened for her almost ten days ago had only happened for Jackie the night before.

On her last visit home, after Shareen had left, Mickey had turned up at the flat. He had said he heard the TARDIS landing. After ensuring the Doctor was nowhere in sight, he had accepted Jackie’s invitation to stay for dinner.

Rose had spent the rest of that evening regaling them with everything she and the Doctor had done since she met him. She had skated over the more dangerous parts of the stories, of course, knowing neither her mother nor Mickey would appreciate the thrilling, riskier bits. Or the idea of her being in serious trouble.

Eventually Mickey had convinced Rose to head down to the pub with him. Jackie had wanted to protest, but when Rose promised she would spend the night in her own bed and still be around for breakfast the next morning, her mother relented.

It was understandable, really.

To them, she had been missing for a year because of a stupid mistake. While the Doctor had apologised to her and even Jackie, Rose knew she at least would probably be making it up to them for the rest of her life.

She hadn’t even commented when Mickey led them the long way round to the pub or when he deliberately walked by the TARDIS. She supposed he was afraid she might run inside to invite the Doctor along. Or disappear with him again.

She had spent the whole night fielding questions from Mickey’s football mates about where she was and assuring people that he hadn’t murdered her. She’d gotten home at two in the morning and Jackie had been waiting for her. She’d insisted she was only up for a drink of water, but judging from the half-finished crossword and the muted telly, Rose suspected her mother had waited up.

In her calmer moments, Rose felt an overwhelming guilt at the entire situation. She would do anything in her power – short of leaving the Doctor, of course – to fix it for the two people she cared about most.

But right now, all she felt was exasperated.

Jackie’s reproachful, judgemental questions as to her relationship with Mickey were one thing. Accusing her of shagging the Doctor, then supplying her with the sodding condoms was another thing entirely!

Condoms Rose was nauseatingly sure were left over from Jackie’s own recent date with Billy Crewe.

‘Not that it’s any of your business, but there hasn’t exactly been a good time to talk with Mickey! And whatever you think, me and the Doctor aren’t shagging, are never going to shag, and even if we were it _still_ wouldn’t be any of your business!’

“I just don’t want you to end up like Shareen, sweetheart! If you figure child support’s hard to get when the bloke’s on the same planet, can you imagine –’

‘Bye Mum,’ Rose cut her off, hanging up the phone.

_Honestly, using Shareen as an excuse_ , she rolled her eyes. _Guess it would be a bit stupid to tell her she’d got more to worry about from Mickey than the Doctor. Don’t think the Doctor actually_ can _…_

Her thoughts trailed off as something suddenly occurred to her.

Something that caused a whole new kind of panic. Not the angry, offended one that forced her to call her mother, but one that made the blood rush from her cheeks.

She stared down at the date on her phone again, carefully counting backwards from how long she and the Doctor had travelled together.

Her stomach swooped.

She should have gotten her period six days ago.

Since they had been in 1912 at the time, she was glad she hadn’t. It would have been difficult enough to figure out how women of that time dealt with their monthly cycle. It would have been worse for her, considering how painful and debilitating hers tended to be.

Rose shuddered reflexively at the thought of having to suffer through primitive versions of sanitary napkins. Or worse, becoming a burden to the Doctor if she was unable to move from the pain.

She was going to have to figure something out for when it happened in the future, and it was a conversation she wasn’t keen on having with him.

_Of course, there are worse conversations to have_ , she thought with giddy dismay. _Like the one I’ll be having with him if…_

She choked back a hysterical sob.

She had always been like clockwork except for one time, and she really hoped that this was just that. Another stress delay, another scare – because it was entirely and worryingly possible that she…

Well, she had been with Mickey, hadn’t she? Barely a day or so before meeting the Doctor for the first time. It hadn’t been anything special, just a quick shag in the morning and she hadn’t even thought about it much until this moment.

It seemed so long ago.

A completely different lifetime ago.

_What the hell am I supposed to do if I am?_

Not only did she not have the money to raise a child, but she didn’t exactly have the education to get a job that would offer a good life. She had vaguely entertained the idea of having kids one day – in that faraway, “someday” that people talked about without really having any solid idea of when it would be.

But only once she actually had something to offer a hypothetical child.

_Right now, I’ve got nothing but a bronze in gymnastics, which won’t give me much unless it’s me dancing on a pole in my knickers…_

Dread coiled in her stomach at that thought.

Despite how well Jackie had managed with her, she didn’t want to follow in her footsteps. Seeing her mother struggle her whole life had instilled in her a deep-seated fear of that ever happening to her. She couldn’t do something like this on her own.

Of course, Mickey would be thrilled.

Would likely bend over backwards to help out. It was exactly the sort of thing he had been waiting for after all. He was twenty-two – _No, twenty-three. Missed a year, remember? –_ and had finished school, had a job and had been pining for a family of his own ever since his parents left him. It had gotten stronger after his gran died three years before and sometimes the way he looked at her made her a bit uncomfortable.

Like he saw her ten years older and with a toddler or two balanced on her hips.

_But I’m not ready to be a mum yet!_

It would hurt him so much if she said that though. Worse than the missing year, she’d reckon.

And if she talked about going to a clinic if… if they were…

_It would hurt me too_ , she thought grimly. _But I’d have to do something. And it’s my choice in the end, right?_

On top of all that, if she was pregnant, travelling with the Doctor would have a definite expiration date. Before, she had been hoping for anything from a gap year to… well, to the end of her life, if she was being her honest and naïve self. But if she were pregnant…

‘Don’t you dare make this place domestic,’ he had said the first time he brought her home, and those words echoed ominously in her mind.

No, if, if she were she couldn’t worry about the Doctor’s place in this equation. Until she knew for sure and had made a choice for herself, it couldn’t be about the Doctor or Mickey or anything else but the potential life inside her.

Even if she was blowing the entire thing out of proportion and freaking out over nothing.

She’d get go see the Doctor, tell him she was hungry. That she wanted to get some food somewhere modern. Somewhere that would have a chemist nearby where she might slip in and get a test.

To make sure.

No point to saying anything to anyone until she was sure.

· ΔΩ ·


	13. Chapter Twelve: Difficult, Not Impossible

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **AN:** So, this will be the last chapter dealing with Rose’s monthlies, so any of you readers who get squicked out by talking about it (though you shouldn’t because it’s a fucking natural process and if we can talk about erectile dysfunction as if it’s the end of the world we should be able to talk about a female mammal’s menstrual cycle) you’re almost out of the woods. The reason I’ve revisited the topic so often is because there’s a disturbing tendency in fiction to completely forget that women have periods and that they have to deal with it no matter what situation they are in in life. I had a male beta reader for a Dragon Age fic once get upset and grossed out because I wrote about my main character just _thinking_ about how she was going to deal with her period on a long-term cross-country journey. Not even describing her be on her period (as if I would ever be so gauche as to be detailed about that!), just _thinking_ about mentioning it. So yeah. Since then, no matter what I write, fandom or fiction, if I have a female character, you can damn well be sure that her menstrual cycle is going to be mentioned. Because by shying away from that topic, a lot of authors encourage ignorance about it, and I refuse to be part of it. 

_‘Some lives are linked across time.’_

\

Rose hadn’t been brought-up religious.

To her grandparents’ everlasting shame and concern, Rose’s parents hadn’t even been married in a church; they’d just gone down to the register’s office and had done with it. Afterward, they were only occasional church attendees – Christmas and Easter, and of course Rose’s baptism.

_Gran made sure of that one…_

But after Pete was killed, Jackie had lost any will to or faith she had ever had, and didn’t care to bring Rose to church. Weekends were busy in the Tyler flat anyhow; more clients had time to get their hair done than on weekdays.

So Rose had never really been the praying type, or the kind to believe in a higher power. Growing up where she had, it was kind of hard to buy into that kind of thing anyway.

The only time she had desperately hoped there was a God she had been sixteen years old and praying the doctor at the walk-in clinic was right. That it really was just the stress from GCSEs and not that she’d lost her virginity to her tutor on the living room couch while her mother was at a friend’s hen do across town.

She had never been so pleased in her life to get her period.

Until now.

Despite the intense, shooting pain in her abdomen as she climbed the stairs to her mother’s flat, she felt an overwhelming and fierce joy radiating through her.

She wasn’t pregnant.

She wasn’t going to have to stop travelling with the Doctor.

She wasn’t going to become another Council Estate statistic.

She wasn’t going to buy horrendous maternity ware because all the nice clothes in the stores was damned expensive.

Really, three days of vicious pain, nausea and acne flare-ups were a small price for a future that once more stretched out bright and promising.

Just to cover all her bases, she offered up yet another silent promise to whatever god existed somewhere in the vast, huge universe that the Doctor intended to show her. The next time she had sex with anyone, she would be so, _so_ careful!

Everything was looking up.

_Well, except the fact the Doctor’s coming up to the flat with me._

Normally she’d be enthusiastic at the smallest sign he was trying to fit into her life for once, instead of leaving all the effort in their friendship to her.

Coming up to her mother’s flat was tantamount to a normal person bringing by a bouquet of apology flowers; obviously the Doctor was feeling remorseful over their disagreements the day before and their recent misadventure in Boston.

Which was fine and a bit sweet, really, but if there was any time she didn’t want the Doctor around, it was now. When she was starting on a three day marathon of bloating, nausea and generally feeling like a grotty mess.

And not even in the normal way, like her mother.

Rose had started her monthlies earlier than all her friends, around twelve. For the first year or so everything had been fine. Over time, three days of mild discomfort turned into three days spent in bed, curled around a hot water bottle and swallowing as many painkillers as she was allowed.

At her worst, she might spend a few hours throwing up, but luckily those cases were rare.

Jackie hadn’t believed her at first. Dysmenorrhea was apparently not a problem on the Prentice side of the family. It wasn’t until an uncomfortable, heated phone conversation with Grandmother Tyler that she finally realised Rose wasn’t making things up.

After that, Jackie had brought her to as many doctors and specialists as NHS would pay for, but despite the reams of different prescriptions and suggestions, nothing helped. She was either allergic to the drugs, or those that seemed to work mucked with her hormones so much she once spent a day sitting on the kitchen floor sobbing.

At that point Rose decided she preferred the pain to constantly feeling like she couldn’t control her own emotions. So Jackie would dutifully call in to the school and Rose would stay at home to recover.

Her friends, particularly the blokes, said she was just off having a holiday. Even the teachers at school would make veiled, snarky comments when she returned to school after missing three days in a row. Beyond telephone calls and the occasional parent-teacher conference, Jackie didn’t have the time to make a fuss the way some of Rose’s classmates’ parents did.

So Rose had to put up with it.

Before, that usually meant Jackie being extra sympathetic and spoiling her a bit when she was having a better day.

Now, though, with the Doctor, Rose did not understand what the protocol would be.

If he was around, she couldn’t exactly go to pieces, could she? He knew she was on her period – they’d had an entire, mortifying discussion about it before coming here. But she didn’t want him to see how bad she got once a month because she knew what it looked like to other people.

When she first started dating Mickey full-time, he had brought her to A&E twice because he didn’t know what the problem was, even though she’d explained things.

The Doctor would probably think she was dying or had some kind of terrible disease instead of just a mildly debilitating monthly medical condition.

He might decide she was a liability.

He might decide she wasn’t worth travelling with. That she was defective.

Which meant if he was going to stick around, she would have to pretend she could shrug it all off. It would be good practice for the future, she supposed.

‘… still dunno why you have to do your laundry _now_ ,’ the Doctor was complaining as they climbed. ‘… were just here, not ten days ago… if I’d known this was going to become a regular thing, I’d’ve just…’

She let his complaints drown out, instead concentrating on not crying out at how every upward step jolted her already aching lower body. She was still in the initial cramping stage before the pain became enough to make walking hurt. As long as she found somewhere to sit down soon, she would be fine.

She’d figure the rest out from there.

The door was barely open before the Doctor threw himself onto the living room couch and reached for the remote control.

‘Typical bloke – no hello, no nothing, just taking over the telly,’ Jackie complained even as she accepted a hug and a kiss from Rose. ‘Go on, make yourself at home!’

‘Don’t mind if I do,’ he retorted, flipping through the channels faster than Rose could blink.

‘Well, where’ve you been, then?’ her mother asked. ‘How many years have you been gone?’

‘It’s only ten days, Mum, and not even that far. We were in Boston yesterday –’

‘Boston? All of bleeding time and space, and you go to _Boston_?’

‘Have _you_ ever been to Boston?’ the Doctor retorted as he settled on _Antiques Roadshow_.

Jackie made a move as though to hit him upside the head, but Rose stopped her before she could.

‘We were sorting out a murderer that was killing people by drying them up like mummies,’ she explained wearily. ‘It wasn’t _just_ anything. And before that, we visited Dallas in the 1960s, and Krakatoa, and the _Titanic_ –’

‘The _Titanic_?’ Jackie demanded. This time Rose wasn’t fast enough to stop the smack Jackie aimed for the back of the Doctor’s head.

‘Oi!’

‘You brought my daughter on a ship that was gonna sink?!’

‘Not while it was sinking!’ he protested, fending off another smack with the remote control. Rose had a feeling he’d meant to hide behind his sonic but had grabbed the controller instead. ‘It was right before the maiden voyage, we disembarked at Queenstown!’

‘We had to, Mum, there was a life sucking alien on board we had to stop,’ Rose soothed. She forced herself to ignore the growing pain in her abdomen and instead drag her mother from the room before she took another swing at the Doctor.

‘As if that makes it better!’ Jackie complained, though she let Rose give her a quick recap of her adventures so far over a cup of tea. She even brought the Doctor one though he was too busy lambasting the man on-screen for appraising a German clock about a hundred quid beneath what it should’ve been. ‘Are you sticking around for a bit, then?’

‘Yeah, the next three days at least.’

‘Ah,’ Jackie nodded, realising. ‘D’you need me to run to the chemist for anything? There should be enough around, but just in case –’

‘I’ll be fine,’ Rose promised. ‘Just gonna find more comfortable clothes.’

‘Why don’t you take a nap, sweetheart?’ Jackie suggested. ‘Always does you a world of good.’

Rose’s eyes darted to the Doctor, and her fears of being seen as weak and useless flared up again.

‘Nah, I’m all right for now,’ she replied, though her womb gave a particularly angry throb at the lie. ‘Gotta make sure you two don’t kill each other, yeah?’

Which was at least true and might take her mind of everything though her mother looked doubtful. Thankfully, for once, Jackie kept her mouth shut and simply went to track down the hot water bottle in her bedside table.

She left soon after to fix a hair emergency from one of their neighbours three flats away.

Rose wasn’t stupid enough to think the Doctor hadn’t listened to their conversation. He was always reminding her about his greater senses after all. Still, she figured he would ignore it the way he did most human related matters.

Therefore she was surprised upon returning to the lounge after a long shower, clad in her pyjamas to find he’d moved from the spacious couch to the arm chair. Without a comment on it, knowing he’d get defensive about it, she settled in the empty spot and after taking some painkillers, fell asleep.

She woke a few hours later to find the Doctor watching _EastEnders_ with a half-tortured, half-intrigued expression while her mother did the laundry and started supper. The drugs were good if she hadn’t heard the shouting from whatever argument had resulted in him ceding control of the television. On the other hand, Mum hadn’t missed an episode ever; Rose’s money would’ve been on Jackie if she’d been awake for the argument.

‘That’s how they ended it?’ he complained. ‘What a stupid place to end an episode. That’s utter rubbish!’

‘You’d understand if you’d seen the lead-up.’

‘Lead-up or not, in no world does that make any sense. He –’

‘Are you arguing about _EastEnders_ with my mum?’ Rose asked groggily.

‘Of course not,’ the Doctor scoffed. ‘As if I would be dragged into yet another bit of domestic inanity with your lot cooked up to avoid boredom.’

‘Yeah, you really did just sound nine hundred years old there,’ Rose teased weakly.

‘Nine hundred?’ Jackie demanded.

‘You take that back, Rose Tyler!’

‘Soon as you admit getting sucked into a soap opera with my mum.’

‘Oh, bollocks, I did, didn’t I?’ he blinked.

For a moment the expression was funny, and she was tempted to tease him some more, but just as quickly it was overtaken by panic. As if he had done something so against his nature that he was appalled. She could see it in his eyes, the caged animal look, and suspected he was thinking of running off and never looking back.

Time to give him an out before he had a shouting fit. He’d done that before when he felt out of his element.

‘You sure you haven’t got anything better to do than hang around here?’ she asked him gently. ‘It’s not gonna get much more interesting around here. I mean, we’ve got laundry, and I might get mum to do my hair again… bit boring when you could be off saving planets and foiling evil masterminds…’

He hesitated for a moment, possibly with an automatic denial on his lips, and then visibly changed tracks.

‘Could always skip ahead,’ he acknowledged. ‘You tell me when you’re ready to come back, I’ll head there right now.’

‘What if you get the landing wrong?’

‘I won’t!’

‘Yeah, but… you might,’ she said, a bit apologetically. She didn’t want to make it seem like she didn’t have faith in him, but it was also a legitimate concern.

‘Tell you what,’ he offered. ‘Just to be extra sure, I’ll keep my time relative to yours. Every day you have here will be a day for me. I’ll even set up a clock by the console running in Earth time if it’ll make you feel better.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Every hour and minute will line up, and I’ll triple check the landing dates before even leaving the TARDIS to pick you up,’ he promised. ‘You call as soon as you want to come back, and I’ll be there like _that_.’

He snapped his fingers.

‘Alright then – if it’s just like that,’ she agreed.

‘Fantastic!’ he jumped to his feet and was already heading out the door. ‘See you in a bit!’

‘Don’t go blowing up anyone else’s job without me!’ she called out after him, while in her mind she added, _Don’t go replacing me with anyone else._

If Rose thought getting rid of the Doctor for a few days would be the end of unwanted attention while she suffered through her period, she was wrong.

Not an hour after she heard the TARDIS take off, and she fell back into a painkiller induced sleep, she caught her mother opening the door to the flat.

‘Look who’s back – like a bad penny! Don’t you work?’

‘Yeah, well, I heard the TARDIS, didn’ I?’ the unmistakable voice of Mickey Smith answered, and Rose groaned, hunching down deeper into her blankets. ‘Thought I’d stop by.’

‘Only once himself was gone, I notice,’ her mother replied archly, her words laced with insinuation that had Mickey muttered, ‘Oh, shut up, Jackie.’

‘Oi! You watch your mouth! And if you think that just cos the Doctor’s not around you’ll be getting up to anything in my house –’

‘As if I would!’

‘ – then you’re out of luck twice, mate, cos Rose ain’t feeling good –’

‘Oh, for God’s sake!’ Rose snapped, throwing off her blankets and forcing herself to her feet. She gritted her teeth as a wave of pain and dizziness hit her, but muddled through it. ‘You lot know I can hear, yeah? D’you mind not talking about me as if I’m on my sodding death bed?’

‘Sorry, Rose,’ Mickey apologised. ‘Was coming by to see if you wanted to go down to the pub – but if you’re ill, I don’t mind stayin’ in. Seein’ as how he left you all alone and all.’

‘What am I, invisible?’ Jackie complained.

‘Mickey – it’s fine – don’t make a fuss,’ Rose protested.

She hated people making a big deal when she was sick, preferring to get better on her own instead of coddled. It was even more annoying even when it was over a regular occurrence like her period.

Mickey knew that, of course. Which made her suspect he was more interested in showing off how much of a better “boyfriend” he was than the Doctor by hanging around to take care of her.

Ironically, she much preferred the Doctor’s tactic of swanning off until she was feeling better.

‘Really, Mickey, you don’t have to stay –’

‘Nah, it’s fine – ‘sides, lots to watch on telly. Don’t even have to be football,’ he went on, and then his expression turned almost pleading. ‘I just want to spend some time with my best girl before you’re off again.’

Of course she couldn’t say no to that.

Which led to him sticking around the rest of the evening. Rose kept company with him on the couch while her mother tried to push several Tupperware containers worth of leftovers off on him. She would have liked to head off to bed, but she understood that since the Doctor came into her life her loved ones didn’t get much time with her. It was the least she could do, giving them every bit of extra time possible.

It was a shameless attempt to lessen her guilt, but she accepted that. Besides, she’d rest up more the next day.

· ΘΣ ·

‘Mickey, you’ve got to work!’

‘Nope. Got the day off. I figured I’d take a long weekend, cos I wasn’t sure how long you’d be staying after you’re… well,’ he trailed off, looking embarrassed.

‘I’m really, really fine – I swear, I’m not just saying that so that you pay more attention to me,’ Rose protested when he showed up the next day. In her head, she yelled, _And I feel like I’ve been impaled with a poker, so would you please go away?_

Then he held up a package for her, and the smell of chips from the shop in Dagenham wafted through the kitchen.

‘Thought you might be hungry once your stomach’s a bit settled.’

Well.

That was…

Her stomach, empty from when she’d been forced to upchuck her breakfast, almost wept.

‘Wrapped in newspaper and everything – how can I say no?’ she sighed and opened the door to let him into the flat.

‘In case you’re about to, I also brought this,’ he said, digging into his coat pocket and holding up a bar of chocolate. The pricey German brand she liked, too.

Rose knew this was one of those times when she shouldn’t encourage Mickey. That even though she wasn’t ready to have the much needed conversation with him about their relationship, she needed to start weaning him off of her and vice versa.

Then again, if after a year he was still coming around…

She felt almost as conflicted now as she had when the Doctor had asked her to travel with her the first time.

She didn’t want to hurt Mickey, but…

_I’ll deal with it later_ , she decided and accepted the chocolate. _When it’s easier to concentrate._

She tried not to feel like she was lying to herself as she let him settle in beside her on the couch. Thankfully he didn’t expect her to engage too much, instead complaining the whole time about things happening down at the garage.

Eventually she managed to convince him to go hang out with his mates because she was feeling worse (even though the second day was usually better).

‘I’ll give you a ring once I’m feeling better and before we leave again,’ she vowed.

‘So he’s coming back for sure, then?’ he asked, and she winced at the hope in his voice.

‘’Course he’s coming back. Could call him to come back right now if I wanted. But I needed some time with Mum and all,’ she said, firm but conciliatory as she showed him to the door.

He turned on the landing, fixing her with an apologetic and knowing look.

‘It’s not for keep, this,’ he told her. ‘He’s eventually gonna go off on his own, you know that, right? Big universe and all, he won’t keep coming back here forever.’

‘Mickey –’

‘I waited for you to get over Jimmy Stone,’ he told her firmly. ‘You’re younger than me, Rose, I can’t expect you to want to settle down right away. Not yet, anyhow. So I’ll wait. Maybe he’s a better boyfriend now, but one day he won’t be. And I’ll be here.’

And then he was gone, the door closing soundly behind him.

Rose stared at the spot that he had been standing for several seconds before reaching for the nearest pillow and shoving her face into it in frustration.

‘Shit.’

That conversation hadn’t gone any way she had expected, at all.

Mickey didn’t turn up again after that. Although a part of her was relieved about it, by her third day she was completely and utterly bored. She would’ve welcomed any kind of awkward conversation over the sea of recent style magazines her mother had plied her with.

Where once she would have read and reread every article and bit of gossip the glossy magazines had to offer, now she kept drifting off into her imagination.

The Doctor’s attention span was rubbing off on her. The idea of more than two days stuck in one place now seemed stifling.

She wondered what kind of trouble the Doctor was getting up to without her and wished she wasn’t stuck back home. Next time, she’d make sure she was on the TARDIS. Adventure or not, there had to be a bunch of stuff to do on the ship. She hadn’t even explored the few rooms she had been introduced to yet, let alone what mysteries lay beyond the endless corridors and hallways.

Exploration aside, once she was back on her feet she’d get the Doctor to take her to an alien planet. He’d been promising for ages now, and she intended to collect.

By the time the sun went down and she was getting ready to turn in for the night, she had already packed and repacked her bag several times. She’d also made a list of places she wanted the Doctor to take her and people she wanted to meet.

‘Can’t you stay at least a few days longer, sweetheart?’ Jackie asked quietly, picking at the zipper on Rose’s rucksack.

‘Mum,’ Rose sighed. ‘You’ve got work. I saw your calendar, you’ve got all those appointments.’

‘I’ll cancel them – s’not more important than seeing you.’

‘Yeah, it is, you know that.’ She wandered over to her mother. ‘How ‘bout this: I’ll have the Doctor brine me by next weekend. We’ll go see a film or get our nails done and have dinner at that Italian place you like. The one where the owner thought you were my sister?’

That caused at least a half-quirk to her mother’s lips.

‘Dunno if you should make any promises – himself ain’t very good at keepin’ time,’ Jackie grumbled mutinously. ‘A year for an hour – try to show up after a week and you’ll likely be a century late.’

‘Yeah, but then we can try again cos the timelines won’t be messed up,’ Rose pointed out.

‘I don’t even know what that means,’ Jackie complained, but she left it after that.

The next morning, Rose kissed her mother goodbye and dialled the number for the TARDIS as she left the flat.

Almost before the call picked up, she watched the TARDIS wailing herself into being at her usual post beside the Estate. The familiar scraping, keening noise – which the Doctor called dematerialization but which she thought sounded like someone driving with the parking brake on – made her grin.

Of course, she knew better than to mention about his driving or his ship when she pranced up the gangplank.

Besides, it had long since become one of her favourite noises in the universe.

· ΔΩ ·


	14. Chapter Thirteen: A Blister On The Universe

_‘Told you you could fly a time machine!’_

 

Rose frowned at herself in her bedroom mirror, examining the angry red flush that spread across her forehead and nose.

‘I look like a tomato,’ she complained to no one as she rubbed on the thirty-third century burn gel the Doctor had provided her with night before. They had returned from a two week stint in fifth century Persia, a desert climate her skin had not been prepared for. She’d been too busy to notice the sting before, but now it was making itself known with a vengeance.

The futuristic gel eliminated that pain within seconds of application and reduced the violent colour to a more manageable tan.

‘Better,’ she decided, giving herself one last assessment before heading out the meet the Doctor. Maybe she could convince him to bring her for breakfast somewhere – she figured after the last adventure he owed her some good food.

He was sitting on the jump seat, booted feet up on the console and engrossed in a heavy hardcover when she entered the control room. Rose would bet money he was reading Dickens.

‘Morning!’ she said brightly, enjoying how he rolled his eyes at that, but put down the book and swung around to face her. He was already grinning at her.

‘So, where are we off to today?’ he asked. ‘If you’ve got no plans, I thought we’d set it to random. See where it takes us.’

‘No way – I’m done with random travelling,’ she told him flatly. ‘Whenever you put us on random, we always end up back on Earth. I want alien. An alien planet, far, far away from Earth. With a different coloured sky and real looking aliens.’

‘I am a real looking alien!’

‘Yeah, but you look human.’

‘You look Time Lord.’

‘I want to see an alien that doesn’t look Time Lord.’

‘You humans – so hung up on looks.’

‘I’m not hung up on looks!’

‘True, you are dating Rickey.’

‘Watch it you!’

‘Suppose we might narrow the parameters,’ he decided, sliding over to the computer terminal and typing something in. ‘Everywhere and everywhen except Earth, but still keep things set to random.’

‘And somewhere with food that won’t blow up my stomach – I’m starving!’

‘Could do with a bit of nosh meself.’

‘What’s the occasion?’ Rose teased as the Doctor flew around the console, setting coordinates and preparing them for their journey. ‘Got nothing to eat while enjoying the princess’s hospitality?’

‘I was too busy rescuing you to enjoy the local cuisine.’ She heard the ship’s hum change slightly, the way it always seemed to when they suddenly changed direction in the Vortex. ‘All right, random alien planet, not Earth, with human compatible food – anything else, or are you done taking the fun out of travelling randomly?’

She stuck out her tongue at him. ‘Let’s go somewhere cold – I’m so over deserts and sun. Oh! No sand! Unless we’re talkin’ beach – no, wait! Let’s do underwater! Can we visit underwater places? How would that even work?’

‘Plenty of subaquatic observational areas. Superior lungs or not, I can’t actually breathe water,’ he remarked, bending down to examine a gauge on the console. ‘That’s not supposed to happen.’

‘What?’

‘The TARDIS is slowing down, but we’re no nearer to any physical place to land,’ he explained, pointing to the view screen like it should make sense to her. ‘The coordinates to our nearest location turns up empty space.’

‘So if there’s nothing there, what’s making us slow down?’ Rose asked. ‘We running out of gas – or whatever the TARDIS runs on?’

‘Shouldn’t be. Not for a long while, anyhow.’ He scowled at the screen and pressed a combination of buttons, shoving several of the little coloured post-it notes aside. She figured now wasn’t the time to ask about them. ‘Hm. According to the sensors, looks like we might be near another black hole.’

‘Been there, done that,’ Rose chuckled.

‘How jaded are you, if a black hole can’t impress you anymore?’ he remarked distantly as he worked. ‘I should take you somewhere boring, so you’re suitably impressed by this sort of thing again.’

‘There’s nowhere in the universe you could take me that would be boring.’

‘Oh.’

‘I can’t believe you’re surprised at that!’

‘Not “oh” that, “oh” this!’ he tapped the console where a series of coloured lights were blinking.

‘What?’

‘It’s not a black hole we’re heading for,’ he replied, expression inscrutable.

‘Oh. Well that’s good, right?’

‘Not really,’ he said, jaw set. ‘We’re heading straight for a quantum rip.’

‘A what?’

‘A tear in the fabric of reality!’ the Doctor snapped, typing quickly one-handed while adjusting a dial that was barely within his reach across the console.

‘And that’s worse than a black hole?’ she guessed.

‘It isn’t just a gravitational pull we’ve got to worry about, but an active vacuum,’ he explained. He smacked his hand against the screen when it did something he didn’t like, then reached for a lever, pulling it down with a snap. The entire ship shuddered around them, and the lights flickered. ‘Gonna be a bit harder to escape than a black hole.’

‘But you can do it, right?’ Rose asked, nervous as something on the other side of the console sparked in protest. The Doctor cursed and jumped out of the spray. ‘Cos I’m not keen on getting ripped apart.’

‘No danger of being ripped apart.’

‘Thank God…’

‘But we’d be trapped forever,’ the Doctor went on, grabbing a mallet she hadn’t noticed before and hammering at something. ‘If we’re extremely lucky, we end up in a charged vacuum emboitement and pop up somewhere like E-Space.’

As if that meant anything to her! ‘And if we’re not?’

‘We’ll be spat out into the Void or into a pocket universe – hang on!’

She found herself thrown into the jump seat as the TARDIS lurched, and she grabbed hold of the backrest to keep herself from tumbling to the grating.

‘Pocket universe doesn’t sound so bad!’ she said. At least if they ended up somewhere that actually _was_ somewhere they would probably find a way of getting back.

‘Pocket universes are deadly to the TARDIS.’

‘Oh.’ Never mind that idea then…

‘She can only survive a few seconds before getting trapped forever – _damn!_ ’ / Rose gasped as the lights flickered once more and went off. The entire room was now bathed only in eerie green light. She had to fight down a rising panic at the sudden realisation that things were more serious now.

‘Only… only a few seconds?’ she bit out, trying to force a calm she didn’t feel. Panicking would not help the Doctor any.

‘Just as well, some pocket universes only last that long anyhow –’ he said, his voice not the slightest bit breathless as he continued talking. As if they were enjoying a discussion about the weather instead of their possible impending doom.

_Trust the designated driver,_ she coached herself when the TARDIS began shaking in earnest. ‘So a pocket universe is pretty much like an insect trap?’

‘Mm… not exactly, though that’s a good guess. More like a blister.’

‘Gross.’

‘You’ve got your skin normally, which let’s say is the universe, and you’ve suddenly got this fluid build-up beneath it. The skin’s unbroken, but the blister is there. You feel it,’ he explained. ‘But it’s temporary. Either it’s broken when you lance it, or it fades away on its own. Either way, _temporary_. You can’t have a permanent blister, unless something’s really wrong.’

‘And then you need a doctor?’

‘Exactly!’ he beamed.

Now there was a deafening sound, drowning out the comforting hum of the TARDIS with the creaking, angry whir of an engine trying to function despite intense resistance. Rose felt dizzy, the same way she got when standing on a beach and watching the tide retreat all around her. The world was moving, and she wasn’t, yet it seemed like she was being pulled.

‘Anything living inside exists for centuries, millennia, even billions of years,’ the Doctor continued to talk, voice muffled beneath the din. There was a clatter from the other side of the Time Rotor. She watched the Doctor dropping down to the ground, followed by the sound of a panel being thrown open. ‘But that’s no good if your sense of time is synced across the dimensions of _this_ universe the way the TARDIS’ is –’

‘So what are we supposed to do? Shouldn’t we be doing something about it instead of talking about it? We’re still heading there, right?’

‘Doing it now, hold on!’ The sonic screwdriver whirred, and the grating noise of the TARDIS dematerialisation sequence started up. The lights flickered back on. ‘Hah! There we go – nothing to it.’

‘If you say something, Mr Tearing-Apart-The-Fabric-of-Reality,’ Rose returned as the Doctor clambered to his feet. ‘You don’t half exaggerate things, do you?’

His response was cut off as the Time Rotor made a horrendous, scraping noise, like metal being dragged on pavement. The ship shook again and once more the lights went out.

‘Let me guess,’ Rose yelled, hands clapped over her ears. ‘That wasn’t supposed to happen either?’

‘We dematerialised too late, it’s still trying to suck us in –’ the rest got lost in a series of swearing that abruptly turned into guttural nonsense. Alien swearing perhaps?

The TARDIS hum had become a high-pitched, laboured whir, and the shaking was getting worse. She was only able to see half the Doctor’s face in the shadow now, and he was muttering to himself.

‘ – complex space-time event damaging the fabric – like a rip – how’s a rip even happen? Holes need to be plugged, rips need to be mended – _Hah!_ That’s it!’ He straightened up, and she could make out a grin; it looked sinister in the green light. He darted forward, snatched her hand and shoved it down on panel. ‘Put your hand there and keep it held down!’

Rose did as she was told, fitting her hand snugly into place and keeping whatever it was pressed down. Her mind flickered back to what he had been saying, trying to make sense of it. ‘Hold on – we’re going to mend it? How?’

‘By redirecting our momentum!’ the Doctor called. ‘We can’t permanently escape the vacuum by dematerialising, there’s too much drag interfering. But if we speed up – head towards it – we might generate enough power to overshoot where the vacuum is trying to take us!’

‘How?’

‘Crosswinds!’ he declared jubilantly. ‘Same way you nullify a whirling dervish – create a vacuum in the opposite direction or, barring that, enough interference that it loses power!’

‘So we’re gonna do that… how?’

‘Rapid directional shifts, moving in and out of multiple dimensions of time and space!’

‘In English?’

‘Slingshot across the gash and then crisscross the rip with quantum material.’

‘That makes no sense!’

‘Well, it wouldn’t make sense to you, would it?’ he disparaged. ‘Now are you gonna help me or not?’

‘Not like I’ve got much of a choice!’ Rose bit back. ‘What d’you need?’

‘Just keep your hand on that panel and don’t let go until I tell you. As soon as we achieve maximum resistance, you’ll let go and we should be catapulted toward the rip.’

‘I thought we didn’t want that?’

‘It’s exactly what we want. The force will send us just past the singularity of the rip – not far enough away to escape the vacuum, but enough that we can change direction again.’

‘Change direction?’

‘S’like weighing anchor. Plonk that down, we’ll create drag. Won’t stop us, but our momentum will cause us to change directions. And I’ll steer us where we need to be.’

‘And each time we move, we’ll create a crosswind?’ Rose finished, his plan dawning on her.

‘Exactly,’ he beamed.

‘Right – s’pose that sounds easy enough,’ she said doubtfully.

‘Ready?’ the Doctor demanded, too soon for her liking.

‘Not really!’

‘And – release!’

She pulled away from the panel and had to grab the edge of the console lest the sudden jerk of the room send her sprawling to the floor. The TARDIS whined, and for a moment Rose’s feet left the floor before they started moving again.

The Doctor sped past her, cranking something up while pulling out a wire that had come loose. Rose had only regained her footing when he called out, ‘Again!’

She shoved her hand down on the panel, bracing herself for the impending abrupt stop as well as possible.

‘Let go!’

It continued like that another half dozen times at least.

Her heart beat a mile a minute, and she could barely breathe, but there was no time to rest between orders. She didn’t dare stop or delay.

‘It’s working!’ the Doctor said.

They fell into an odd rhythm, the Doctor dancing around the console, manoeuvring around her as he bobbed from station to station, while Rose listened for his instructions. Every time he spoke, Rose either pressed down on the panel or released it. It wasn’t as simple a job as she first thought – her hand was already slippery with perspiration, and the lurching of the time ship didn’t help. Every time the Doctor made them change direction, the motion threatened to throw her across the control room – right, left, up, down. She never knew which way to lean.

‘Almost there,’ the Doctor said after what seemed like forever. ‘Might just make it if we can – ’

Another violent shudder, and this time Rose did lose her balance, falling to her knees.

The Doctor cursed again, and he dived around the console to pull her up.

‘It’s not gonna be enough,’ he lamented. ‘The power won’t hold. We’ve only got one or two more passes before we run out.’

‘Then what?’ Rose asked, fighting to ignore the cold dread in her stomach.

‘We end up in a pocket universe.’

‘And we die?’

‘In a lifetime and an instant.’

‘All right – I propose we don’t die then.’

‘Seconded.’

‘Any idea how not to?’

‘Workin’ on it – and, hand down!’ The TARDIS lurched again. The Doctor’s arms bracketed her, keeping her from going flying, for which she was immensely grateful. ‘We’ll keep it down as long as possible this time. Build up as much resistance as we can, cos we’ve only got enough speed left for one more pass.’ He let out a resigned sigh. ‘Least everything outside the rip is safe, even if we will still be pulled in as the tear closes.’

Her stomach plummeted. ‘Isn’t there anything that would give us a jump, or a push, or… or something!?’

‘Done everything I can think of, beyond ejecting the unused parts of the ship. Even that – I don’t know what else to try.’

She had never heard the Doctor sound defeated before, and it sparked both fear and anger in her.

‘What are you talking about, you don’t know? You always know!’ Rose shouted. ‘You’re supposed to have some plan, some insane and dangerous idea that –’

He whirled her around then, and grasped her shoulders, eyes so wide she only saw the whites in the dim light,

‘Ace!’ he declared, and laughed madly, taking off out of the control room. ‘Stay right there! And hold that lever down as if your life depends on it – cos it does!’

‘What? Doctor!’ Rose shouted after him, but he was already gone.

She gaped at the spot where he had been, conscious of the fact she was now standing alone in the control room. In a dark TARDIS that was filling with smoke and still shaking worryingly around her.

Terror grew, increasing exponentially with every second.

What if something happened while he was gone, or she did something wrong and they slipped into the pocket universe? Was he absolutely insane leaving her in here by herself? Hadn’t he made it clear that humans couldn’t fly the TARDIS? Yet he was leaving her here, the only thing keeping them from hurtling into a rip in the fabric of reality?

_Guess it’s not like he can get mad at me if we get killed,_ she thought madly.

It was getting harder to keep her hand down on the panel as if the TARDIS was fighting being stopped or the pull was finally getting too strong. Had the Doctor gotten lost or something and that was why he hadn’t –

Even as the thought formed, he was suddenly back, his boots thumping on the grating before throwing himself into the jump seat and typinh madly.

‘Where the bloody hell have you been? You lost your mind or something?!’ she yelled, fear and frustration boiling out of her. ‘You just left me here!’

He didn’t answer her, looking distracted and instead muttering something about a “workshop” and “ace” and “Nitro 9”.

She was losing her grip. ‘Doctor – I can’t hold on much longer–!’

He laughed, hitting a final key. ‘Right, let go!’

‘Doctor –?’

‘Now!’

She let go of the panel, sending the ship sailing on a final pass across the rip. She swallowed, waiting to hear that this was it, that they were done for, but the Doctor was charging toward the door of the TARDIS and tugging at it.

‘Doctor!’

But he was hauling it open and throwing something out into the black of space and slamming the door behind him.

‘Hold on to something!’ he ordered, diving for the nearest coral strut. Rose imitated him, wrapping her arms tightly around it and clenching her eyes shut.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then there was a swooping sensation behind her navel. She couldn’t help think that this was it. That they had been pulled into the pocket universe and any moment everything would end.

The TARDIS had gone completely silent now, her laboured hum completely spent, and only the silent vacuum of space itself existed.

It was because of this silence that Rose heard the muffled explosion behind the door, and the world went topsy-turvy.

The control room – no, the _entire ship_ – spun around. Rose’s legs dangled in the air as the floor became the ceiling, loose wires and debris falling past her as the walls rolled over her head. She continued to grasp the strut desperately, trying to wrap her legs around it for added security.

As fast as it started, the movement stopped, and she was upright.

Rose waited with bated breath, for whatever was to come next.

There was a beat, followed by a slow, hesitant hum returned.

The lights flickered on seconds later, illuminating herself and the Doctor sprawled on opposite sides of the room. The Time Rotor slowly slowed down. They had landed somewhere.

_Are we dead?_ She thought, but couldn’t seem to regain control of her mouth to ask. _Doesn’t feel like it…_

The Doctor stood with little production, as if nothing of import had happened, and straightened his coat. Then he crossed the floor, studied the monitor and nodded.

‘Well, that’s that,’ he grinned.

‘Hold on – what? What the hell was all that?’ Rose demanded. ‘What did you do? Why’re we still… here?’

‘We got free of the rip, obviously,’ he disparaged. ‘Closed it on the final pass, too, so no one’s gonna get drawn into it again.’

‘But – how? You said we didn’t have enough power?’

‘We didn’t, so I got us some. Nitro 9. Fantastic stuff. Registers nine on the Richter scale, so it was only a matter of increasing the blast potential.’

She blinked past the fuzziness of her brain. ‘And… what, it pushed us away from the rip?’

‘Exactly!’ the Doctor was beaming at her now. ‘Just far enough away so we could dematerialise. Then the old girl landed us – suppose she needs a few hours to recover after that. Works for us though. You said genuine alien planet, yeah?’

‘You’re mental,’ Rose told him as she stood, though she wobbled a bit on her feet as she did. ‘We just almost died, and that’s it?’

‘We almost die all the time, no need for a post-match analysis,’ he disdained. ‘Besides, it’s what you wanted – granted, we took a bit of a detour, but right outside those doors? A planet that’s not Earth.’

Sometimes all you could do was accept it and move on.

Rose shook her head, trying to put their most recent near death experience behind them and offering the Doctor a cheeky smile, albeit a weaker version than usual. ‘Oh, you sure this time?’

‘Why don’t you go out and see?’

‘Maybe I will.’ She tossed her hair behind her shoulder and made a beeline for the door, deciding if the Doctor was going to be nonchalant in the face of certain death, so was she. ‘Any idea where we are?’

‘Dunno, never been in this system before. The universe is big enough that I don’t personally know every planet in existence.’

‘So there _is_ something you don’t know everything about?’

‘Of course there is! Reality TV for example. Don’t know anything about it, don’t want to know anything about it,’ the Doctor explained as Rose opened the TARDIS door, keen on her first truly alien planet.


	15. Chapter Fourteen: Different Moralities

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Yeah, I don’t even know about this chapter. It sort of just got away with me, and before I knew it was twice as long as usual. Just an example of an adventure that wasn’t life or death for once… Canon Compliance: Right after The Monsters Inside

  _‘This isn’t Earth. Earth rules don’t apply.’_

[ ](http://erthechilde.livejournal.com/41421.html)

Rose wasn’t surprised when her first step onto alien soil ended up being a prison planet in a penal system. Nor was she surprised when the ensuing adventure involved being arrested, getting drawn into a mass inmate uprising and nearly dying a fiery death in a crashing shuttle.

And not necessarily in that order.

She was, however, a bit taken aback by the stormy expression on the Doctor’s face as they closed the door on Justicia.

‘Are you alright?’ she asked as he prepared them to take off.

‘I’m always alright.’

‘Liar – you look like Mickey did when someone keyed his car –’

‘I’m fine!’ he snapped. She recoiled slightly at the tone, having not realised he really was upset. He noticed, huffed out an angry breath and then added in a less confrontational tone, ‘It’s the TARDIS. Navigational system was always knackered, but I’d at least occasionally end up somewhere that I didn’t have to get into it with evil overlords and greedy psychopaths.’

Rose was unsure of what to say to that and he sighed, looking defeated.

‘Not giving you a very good impression of the universe, am I? Every place we land, you nearly get killed.’

Alarm bells went off in her head at that. All she needed was for him to think she wasn’t enjoying their travels. Or worse, that she was a liability.

‘It’s fine,’ Rose insisted. ‘I knew what I was getting into when I signed up, remember?’

He shot her a look like she’d completely missed the point and then cranked a lever on the console.

There was a beat of silence, then he suddenly straightened.

‘Ramalon Nine,’ he announced apropos of nothing. ‘How’s Ramalon Nine sound? No major crises there until the Pinochle Riots of 8932, which I can’t land anywhere near cos I’m already there! Best cuisine in the entire Vardis star system. Never did bring you for breakfast, did I?’

She decided not to mention the abrupt subject change. ‘Doctor, that was three days ago!’

‘So? You sayin’ you’re not hungry now?’

‘Guess I could eat.’

‘Fantastic!’

The TARDIS, it seemed, decided to take the Doctor’s complaint to heart, because the trip went off without a hitch. After checking the coordinates no less than six times, he proclaimed that they had arrived and gestured for the door. Rose, dutifully playing her part, bounded out the doors to examine what new world he had brought her to this time.

The sky was lime green, the spaces where Rose expected to see clouds filled with long reams of light like aurora borealis. Pink, vine-like trees peppered the otherwise brown and rocky landscape. Rather than look barren, however, it was as if an artist had sculpted it with deliberate minimalism.

The Doctor had parked the TARDIS beside a deep purple lake, in the shade of a large mountain that appeared to be giving off smoke.

‘Is that a volcano?’ Rose asked, remembering their trip to Krakatoa.

‘Nope. Probably a factory.’

‘In a mountain?’

‘Ramalonians always build within mountains and rock faces. They don’t like cluttering up their land with ugly structures. It’s actually a planetary by-law that only aesthetically pleasing buildings are allowed to be constructed above ground.’

‘If you say so,’ Rose grinned.

‘I do say so!’ he offered her his hand, which she gladly took, and led her up a path lined with the twisty trees. After a bit of walking, he reached up to a low-hanging branch and plucked something off it. ‘You should try this.’

‘What _is_ it?’ she asked, eying the object in speculation. It was sludge green and prickly, with neon purple leaves.

‘Kawaga fruit. Delicacy in this part of the world,’ he told her, placing his fingers at what looked like strategic, prickle-free areas on the fruit and twisting. It split open, revealing a yellow, gelatinous centre.

‘And people…eat that, do they?’

He shot her an amused look. ‘You know, one of the main reasons for travelling is eating foreign food.’

‘I didn’t say it wasn’t, it just looks…’ she tried to think of a polite way to describe it, but ended up leaving the sentence hanging.

‘Looks can be deceivin’,’ the Doctor lectured. ‘Haggis looks dodgy, but the Scotts love it.’

‘Yeah, but they’re Scottish, I think they have to. There’s a rule.’

‘The point still stands,’ he replied, rolling his eyes and offering her the fruit. ‘Besides, I know for a fact this is completely palatable to human tongues and stomachs. Not gonna burn a hole through you or anything.’

Rose swallowed reflexively. Although she wasn’t by any measure a picky eater, her experience with alien food had so far been rather sparse. Her first alien world she couldn’t remember at all. And on the most recent, she had either been too busy to eat anything or the food was similar to what she was used to from home.

Squaring her shoulders, she reached out and took a section of the fruit. Before she could really think any better of it, she put the entire thing in her mouth.

‘Well?’ the Doctor demanded before her taste buds had a chance to kick in.

She tried to chew, only to have the entire mouthful deflate into bitter jelly. It was absolutely disgusting, and almost made Rose’s gag reflex kick in, until a bit of the neon purple leaves migrated close to her tongue. There was a burst of flavour, like papaya, drowning out the rest of the Kawaga fruit.

‘Think I’ll wait ‘til we track down some chips,’ she managed after swallowing, scrunching up her nose when the Doctor offered her the rest of the fruit.

‘Not gonna find any of those here,’ he grinned, tossing the half-eaten Kawaga over his shoulder. ‘Ask for chips on this planet, they’ll bring you a plate full of gravel.’

‘So what are we gonna eat?’

‘Dunno. Whatever they’re serving up there.’

He pointed out a square building with a terrace overlooking a small hill. It had a roof like an alpine chalet and once they got closer, she saw it was built from a material that resembled metallic marble.

Ramalonians, Rose learned, were grey-skinned creatures, with bulbous red eyes and no noses. Their mouths stretched all the way around the lower hemisphere of their heads, but they didn’t have any teeth or gums from what Rose could see (the jelly-like consistency of the Kawaga fruit now made sense). They walked around naked but for ornate loin-clothes or tunics, and she could see that they only had two very large toes on each foot. They also had three ridges growing out of the top of their heads, which the Doctor informed her changed colour based on their moods.

Some Ramalonians had more than two arms.

‘The number of arms determines social caste,’ the Doctor explained under his breath as they waited in line behind a crowd of the aliens. ‘Two arms are the high society – the nobs – and four arms are the working classes and merchants.’ He nodded at a Ramalonian at the other end of the room, who was currently entering information into a computer tablet of some sort with one pair of hands, while wiping the counter down and mixing drinks with the other. ‘Then you’ve got the ones with six arms, which are the hard labourers and the poor.’

‘Right,’ she faltered.

Humans must have been common enough on this planet, because the four-armed hostess that seated them didn’t even comment on their looks. In fact, she seemed to be falling over herself to lead the Doctor and Rose over to a choice spot on the terrace.

‘I am Kajsit,’ she introduced humbly as they took their seats; both the chairs and table hovered several feet off the ground. ‘If there is anything at all I can do to make your stay more enjoyable, do not hesitate to ask.’

‘Fantastic,’ the Doctor declared, and declined the computer tablet menu the hostess offered. ‘We’ll have whatever’s your favourite thing to make. Food always tastes better when the cook enjoys makin’ it, don’t you think?’

‘Unquestionably,’ the Ramalonian agreed, beaming at him. ‘I will see to it myself, sir!’

She bowed and backed away from them.

‘They all this friendly?’ Rose asked. She had never eaten in an establishment where she was actually treated like she was someone important. In London she would have said the hostess was trying too hard and angling for a better tip, but here the Ramalonian seemed utterly genuine.

‘It’s cos you and I have two arms. Alien or not, it’s ingrained in their culture to treat us like royalty,’ he beamed at her. ‘Figured it’d be a nice change from eating in the mess of a prison.’

‘You’re not wrong!’ Rose agreed. ‘But what happens when they find out you’ve got no money to pay them with?’

‘Oi, who says I haven’t got any money?’

‘You never have money.’

‘True. But the economy here isn’t based on anything so paltry as money,’ the Doctor sneered. ‘Good old bartering system!’

‘Oh, right – and I suppose it’s like the banana thing all over again?’ Rose deadpanned. The Doctor had once tried to pay their bail using a bunch of bananas.

‘Not exactly – as you can imagine, Ramalonian’s can’t eat or digest solid foods. But a little bit of spice goes a long way,’ the Doctor explained, reaching into his coat and pulling out a handful of something. It took Rose a minute to recognise a few little paper packets of salt and pepper like the ones that existed in any Earth fast-food restaurant. ‘Worth gold in a lot of places in the universe, not just here.’

‘You’re kiddin’!’

The Doctor went on to tell her what other Earth oddities passed for currency across the universe. Anything from stamps to seashells to live bees.

‘What, really? But they’re alive!’

‘Yep, but oh so valuable when you consider their integral place in the pollination process,’ the Doctor allowed. ‘One of the few times living currency isn’t dodgy. Got to be careful, though, depending on how high functioning the species. Tropical fish, kittens, elderly humans –’

‘But that’s slavery!’

‘Not on Smadasalguod it isn’t. The older members of the population are the most valuable people there, cos of their wisdom. Also, they don’t have a system of written history – it’s all oral. So their stories make them very important to the transmission of culture. Anyone who owns a retirement home is considered a billionaire by human standards.’

‘That’s actually…sort of brilliant,’ Rose admitted.

‘I know!’ the Doctor beamed.

The female Ramalonian from before returned, carrying over a platter almost the size of the table. As it was set down, Rose saw that it was completely covered in hundreds of different coloured pearl-sized balls, which had been arranged in an intricate design. It was like a mosaic, only instead of tiles, the individual pieces seemed to be made out of a gel.

‘It’s gorgeous,’ Rose said, awed by the design that clearly depicted the odd trees from outside, with stylized Kawaga fruits hanging off of them. ‘Did you do that yourself?’

‘Yes, thank you,’ Kajsit said, ducking her head again. The ridges on the top of her head turned a soft yellow. ‘My family is known throughout the region for our designs. Ten generations have been culinary artists.’

‘It’s almost too pretty to eat.

‘Oh, I should hope not!’ Kajsit cried, sounding distressed, and her skull ridges turned white in what Rose imagined was distress.

‘Don’t mind her, she tends to exaggerate,’ the Doctor interrupted. ‘We’ll be sure to enjoy every mouthful.’

Kajsit relaxed incrementally, and sensing she had somehow offended the alien, Rose quickly added, ‘I just want to take a picture of it first, to show my mum the design. It’s so pretty!’

This didn’t seem to completely reverse the faux-pas, because the Ramalonian frowned. ‘For what purpose? Does she cook as well? Surely she would prefer a design of her own than to pass off another as hers.’

‘Oh, no, I just want to show her how beautiful it is,’ Rose insisted, wishing she could back peddle on the entire conversation.

‘No need to worry about her passing your designs off as hers,’ the Doctor added. ‘Jackie Tyler can’t cook under normal circumstances, let alone manage something this appetising – _ow_!’

Rose had kicked him, but at least Kajsit finally seemed to realise no offence was meant.

‘Very well,’ she conceded. ‘The compliment is appreciated. I wish you an enjoyable meal.’

And she disappeared again, heading over to where another four-armed Ramalonian had just entered. This one was male, and followed by another male with six arms.

‘Way to put your foot in it,’ the Doctor chided Rose. ‘Food here is an art form. No one can become a cook without a creative eye, and they tend to dislike copycats.’

‘Got that, thanks,’ Rose laughed, digging out her phone and snapping a picture of the meal. ‘Alright, so how d’you eat it?’

The Doctor motioned at two long, thin sticks that she thought were akin to chopsticks until he took one and gently nudged it against one of the colourful kernels. It stuck on, and he dropped it into his mouth without chewing.

‘The principle is a bit like static electricity, which picks up the kernel and then the moisture from the mouth loosens it. Dissolve on your tongue.’

‘Seems a bit slow,’ Rose remarked.

‘Only if you’re used to eating in a hurry,’ he shot her a lopsided smile. ‘Ramalonian food was created on the principle of sitting down and enjoying every flavour. Each globule in the design has a subtly different one.’

‘Sort of like Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans?’

‘Yeah, except none of the unpleasant flavours. Also, much more filling. You finish off a dish like this, you don’t need to eat for a week –’

There was a sudden yell from across the terrace.

The Doctor and Rose watched in shock as Kajsit suddenly dove at the six-armed Ramalonian. With one pair of hands, she slapped and punched him while with another she seemed to be trying to gouge his eyes out. The four-armed male beside her was shouting frantically, trying to pull her away and shield the other male.

Rose and the Doctor jumped to their feet, sending their hover chairs skidding away. The Doctor was already several paces ahead of Rose, throwing himself between the once mild-tempered hostess and her hapless victim.

They managed with some difficulty to pull them apart.

‘Looked like you could use an extra hand,’ the Doctor replied blithely and Rose rolled her eyes.

‘Really?’

‘What?’ he asked, then gave a grunt of effort as Kajsit tried to make another attempt on the six-armed Ramalonian. ‘Oi, leave off! What’s this all about that it can’t be sorted over a cuppa?’

‘This is not your business, honoured patron,’ Kajsit bit out, trying to disentangle herself from the Doctor. ‘Please, return to your place while I escort this…this _ingrate_ from my abode!’

‘Ingrate?’ the four-armed male shot back. ‘How have I been ungrateful, Mother? How is asking permission to marry Zarsa ungrateful?’

‘You tried to strangle him because of a marriage proposal?’ Rose blinked.

‘Domestics,’ the Doctor disdained, throwing up his hands. ‘I thought it was something interesting.’

‘Such an insult! In my place of business, in front of my customers –!’ Kajsit snarled.

‘If you had listened the first time I asked instead of dismissing me outright – I hoped you would behave more decorously if we spoke in public,’ the four-armed Ramalonian retorted. ‘Obviously I made a mistake.’

‘I had hoped I imagined it, that you would not be so foolish as to speak of it again!’

‘Why’s it matter what she thinks?’ Rose asked.

‘As head of the family, her permission is needed for us to register as spouses,’ the male she supposed had to be Zarsa said quietly.

Kajsit glowered. ‘As if your audacity wasn’t already sickening enough!’

‘Oi, you don’t have to be insulting,’ Rose pointed out, and then turned to the other two Ramalonians. ‘Doesn’t seem like she’s up for it – maybe you might be better off getting Zarsa’s parents to give permission?’

‘Rose, don’t get involved,’ the Doctor groaned. ‘Come on, let’s get back to our meal –’

She ignored him.

‘Kajsa is of a higher caste than I,’ Zarsa explained, embarrassed. ‘The permission must come from her side.’

‘He only wishes to use my son to better his position in society!’ Kajsit barked. ‘If they marry, their children will be of this caste and this vermin will have gained higher standing. Such behaviour is against the will of the gods!’

‘And you heard the gods say so personally, did you?’ the Doctor sighed, more as an aside than actual contribution to the conversation.

‘So what if he does gain better standing, if he and Kajsa care about each other?’ Rose wanted to know.

‘A foreigner would not know, even one blessed as you might be to be bibrachial,’ Kajsit replied bitterly. ‘Kajsa was born with the potential to breed, a rare honour! And this _creature_ wishes to take advantage of it!’

Kajsit threw herself forward, this time attempting to get hands around Zarsa’s neck. The Doctor held her back while Rose tried to pull the other Ramalonian out of her reach. After some more struggling, Kajsit allowed herself to be pulled away and roughly pushed the Doctor off of her.

‘I don’t get it,’ Rose said. ‘What’s all this about? Potential to breed? Doesn’t every species have that?’

‘Ramalonians have an out-of-sync sexual dimorphism,’ the Doctor clarified. ‘One generation is born completely male. Over the course of their life cycle a few have the genetic ability to evolve in order to exhibit female characteristics. They’re the only ones able to breed. Then, the next generation is almost entirely born female, and the reverse happens. They start to exhibit male characteristics over time.’

‘That’s…complicated.’

‘Yeah, but it’s a decent system in a lot of ways. Keeps the population small but stable, and they value life above everything. No such thing as murder here, cos life’s so important to everyone. Also, they remain in touch with their environment instead of overrunning it.’

‘I guess,’ Rose said, having not thought to look at it that way.

‘It’s why only a select few are able to breed, and they’re rather important, valued members of society.’

‘Bah! I will not waste my time on this any longer,’ Kajsit declared, then pointed at Kajsa. ‘I have made my decision, and it is final! Trouble me no more, and take that filth out of here.’ She frowned at the Doctor and Rose, and in a forced polite voice said, ‘It would be best if you two returned to your meal, instead of involving yourselves in this shameful business. Especially if I am forced to notify the authorities. They take caste-jumping quite seriously.’

Kajsa’s head ridges paled. ‘Mother, you can’t!’

‘Then put aside your foolishness and let us hear no more of this!’

The female Ramalonian stalked back into the building.

‘Kajsa – forget it. I don’t want to see you punished for this,’ Zarsa began.

‘I don’t care – the alternative is worse,’ Kajsa insisted.

‘Why?’ the Doctor asked.

Rose rolled her eyes. ‘Because they’re in love, you dolt. When you care about someone that much, you don’t want to see them hurt.’

The Doctor shot her a funny look – half-exasperated, half-reproachful – as if she was missing something very obvious, but she ignored it. Sometimes he got weird about ideas that were very simple for her.

‘Exactly,’ Kajsa agreed. ‘We are in love. It is our right.’

‘Yeah, but it’s gotta be more than that,’ the Doctor prompted.

‘There is nothing else,’ Kajsa insisted.

‘Well, if you two won’t explain what’s going on...,’ the Doctor huffed and turned to leave. ‘No point in us tryin’ to help people who don’t want to be helped. This whole thing’s been far too trivial for my tastes anyhow – come on, Rose.’

‘If they don’t want to pour out their personal problems to complete strangers that’s alright, Doctor. You don’t need to make ‘em feel guilty about it,’ she protested. ‘Like you’re the most forthcoming person ever when it comes to information?’

‘I always have a good reason for not blabbing and emoting all over the place!’

‘Yeah, well, maybe they do too!’

They exchanged glares for a spell, and then the Doctor rolled his eyes. With a put-upon air, he turned to the two young Ramalonians.

‘Look, the biggest problem your mother seems to have is she believes you’re gonna use any potential child as a stepping stone to improve your social status,’ he pointed out. ‘If that’s it, the solution is simple: don’t have kids of your own. You lot have the technology to ensure that.’

Zarsa and Kajsa stared at him in astonishment.

‘That’s barbaric,’ Kajsa insisted.

‘We would be shunned,’ Zarsa agreed.

‘Yeah, that’s not exactly an answer, Doctor,’ Rose pointed out.

He shrugged. ‘Can’t overhaul an entire species’ way of doing things in one day. Your parents might legally have control over who you marry, but in the end it’s you who has control over everything else. It’s a choice to change your sex, isn’t it? And it’s also a choice to procreate. Last time I checked, Ramalonians don’t have a law sayin’ you have to have kids, so you can choose not to.’

‘But…it is expected for people like me,’ Kajsit maintained weakly. ‘It is our duty.’

‘If you really cared about duty or what was expected, you wouldn’t be trying to marry someone your mother doesn’t approve of,’ the Doctor reminded him. ‘Though, to play devil’s advocate, exercising your independence is great an all, but refusin’ to breed also means your cutting off a whole branch of potential future lives.’

‘That’s their decision to make, though,’ Rose pointed out, though not as sure as before. The Doctor had raised a few questions for her to think about.

The Ramalonian couple regarded each other miserably for a spell, and Rose could tell neither of them was happy with the choices they were being asked to make. Rose wasn’t particularly happy with the option either, having expected the Doctor to offer an acceptable alternative.

Something must have shown on her face, because he quietly told her, ‘Things don’t always work out the way we want them to. Sometimes the only choices you have are hard ones. But you still have to choose.’

Kajsa appeared to steal himself.

‘If it will ensure I can marry as I please, I will choose barrenness,’ Kajsa decided, causing Zarsa to gasp in amazement. ‘If my mother believes I am serious, she will be forced to consent. She prizes my potential fertility above all else.’

‘You will do no such thing!’

They all looked up to see Kajsit had returned once more. Her head ridges were a violent shade of mauve.

‘Mother –!’

‘I will hear no more of it – stop this foolishness!’

‘It’s not foolishness! If you decide I may not marry Zarsa, then I will also not give myself over to bear young. Our family line will end.’

Kajsit made a choking noise.

‘You would do that to your people?’ she demanded. ‘You would cause such suffering for the sake of an… _insect_?!’ Her voice became louder. ‘How dare you, you selfish child! And you two –!’ She rounded on the Doctor and Rose. ‘Encouraging him!’

‘I did no such thing,’ the Doctor protested. ‘All I did was talk!’

‘Very well,’ Kajsit said darkly as if she hadn’t heard. She turned to Kajsa. ‘I give you my permission, if that is what you’re after. But you will not be welcome in this house any longer, nor will any mutts you choose to birth.’ She growled at them. ‘Now all of you – leave my property.’

She cracked her knuckles threateningly, and Rose figured she wouldn’t be waiting for any authorities to show up and oust them this time. The Doctor apparently felt the same, because he snatched her hand and dragged her out of the building. They were followed by the two Ramalonians.

As they headed back down the hill, Rose felt like there was a pit in her stomach. She wondered if she had just helped ruin two people’s lives. But when she looked back at them, Kajsa and Zarsa were smiling wearily at one another.

‘It is alright. We will be alright,’ Zarsa said, offering a comforting clap on the shoulder to Kajsa.

‘Yes, we will,’ he replied, obvious effort into sounding certain.

‘Now, how about tellin’ us the real reason you lot wanted to get married?’ the Doctor suggested. ‘Might not be obvious to those of us who can’t sense pheromones, but you two aren’t even attracted to each other, let alone in love.’

‘Doctor!’ Rose protested.

‘It’s true! But I don’t think it’s as simple as Zarsa wanting to jump castes, either.’

The two Ramalonians exchanged tense looks, and then Zarsa nodded in resignation.

‘We are not in love,’ he admitted, causing Rose’s mouth to drop incrementally. ‘While I was at university the previous term, I…had a relationship with a female from off-world. Such a thing is common place there, but my family…they are very traditional, very prejudiced against aliens. If I return home, they will order my execution.’

‘But why?’ Rose gasped.

‘They, and others in our community, will believe I have become sullied breeding stock. The only way to avoid returning home would be to marry into another Ramalonian family. The problem is, not many of my caste are lucky enough to attend university. The majority of students are from wealthier families, from higher castes, and they would not be eager to sully their bloodlines by marrying beneath them.’ He offered a soft smile to his new fiance. ‘But despite this, Kajsa offered to help.’

‘To save a friend’s life, marriage seemed like an easy solution,’ Kajsa shrugged. ‘Zarsa is kind and intelligent, and will one day do great deeds. To have that destroyed by backward thinking – how could I live with myself if I allowed that?’

Rose couldn’t help agree with that. She had heard plenty of silly reasons for people who didn’t love each other getting married, but this one was by far the best she had ever heard.

‘Where will you go now?’ she asked.

‘There are places to live near the university,’ Kajsa replied. ‘I do not fear hard work, and I have learned much watching my mother run the family business. I will start anew. We will be fine.’

‘You think your mother will actually keep her word?’ Rose questioned.

‘She has no choice,’ Kajsa said. ‘The entire dining area heard her give her permission. They are lawful witnesses.’

‘But what if they decide not to say anything?’

Kajsa and Zarsa seemed confused.

‘Marriage permission is considered sacred. No one will lie about that on the record,’ the Doctor explained.

‘Oh.’

‘Please excuse us. We have many things to arrange,’ Zarsa said, bowing. ‘Thank you again for your help.’

He ushered his friend – now fiancé – away from the little chalet, leaving the Doctor and Rose alone.

‘That was really weird – I mean, it was weird, wasn’t it?’ Rose asked.

‘Just goes to show,’ the Doctor remarked. ‘You can never really know the whole story.’

‘I think it’s a better story than _Romeo and Juliet_ ,’ she decided. ‘It’s nice to see what some people will do for their friends. And to have a happy ending.’

‘Depends on what you mean by happy. If they choose not to reproduce, they deprive themselves of something their culture is deeply focussed on. Might be shunned in some places. And if they do reproduce, Kajsa will die. Childbirth is fatal to the childbearing members of this species.’

‘That…that’s horrible!’

‘Nah, just a genetic quirk of evolution. It’s no different from butterflies that only live a day, long enough to mate and pass on their genes,’ the Doctor explained as the headed down the path toward the TARDIS.

‘Still – they choose it,’ Rose declared, determined to find a silver lining despite the grim situation. ‘If they know that’s what’s gonna happen, they’ve got to be some of the most unselfish creatures I’ve ever met!’

The Doctor grinned. ‘You’re right about that, Rose Tyler.’

‘And…and it was nice to help sort a situation that doesn’t involve running for our lives or nearly getting killed,’ she went on, only half teasing. ‘For once.’

‘Oh, come on, you know you’d get bored.

‘Well…wouldn’t want to do it every day,’ she agreed. Then she sighed. ‘Glad I snapped that photo of lunch, seein’ as how I didn’t actually get to eat any of it…’


	16. Chapter Fifteen: Occupational Hazards

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll do up a banner later. I'm back to work, so right now the only time I have to write is spent on writing, not fighting with PhotoShop :P

The fifth moon of Flox was, according to the Doctor, a colony world with the best selection of photon accelerator coils.

‘Thanks to their biology, the Floxese can create very intricate, very delicate technological components,’ he explained as he locked the door of the TARDIS behind him. ‘Each of their appendages has a secondary brain which connects to the central cortex. It ensures motor function signals don’t crossed. Steadiest hand in the universe! Well, I say hands…’

He wiggled his fingers, and Rose laughed as she let him wrap them around hers. If the Doctor’s grip seemed a little tighter than normal, she didn’t mention it.

Their latest adventure on a militantly xenophobic planet had taken a grim turn, resulting in them being isolated from each other by more than simply distance. Both of them had nearly been tortured and executed. Their involvement with two warring factions had dredged up memories of the Time War for the Doctor, and he had needed a few days of downtime.

Well, he had said he needed to fix the TARDIS, but Rose knew better.

This would be their first trip out of the TARDIS in almost a week. It wasn’t lost on her that he had chosen an isolated alien bazaar instead of somewhere potentially dangerous.

‘… and the widest variety of fine inks you’ll ever find,’ the Doctor was saying, still lecturing about the local offerings.. ‘Coloured, textured, scented, three dimensional, invisible, psychic, edible – you name it, they’ve got it.’

He wasn’t much of a rambler, unless he was trying to teach her something. Even though she hadn’t really been paying attention this time, she enjoyed those long dialogues. It was a bittersweet kind of enjoyment though. She adored the idea that she was the only one who really got to see this side of him – the softer, more carefree and sort of vulnerable Doctor.

At the same time, she felt guilty because he had no one left to share that part of him with.

She shook those thoughts off, not liking to dwell on what neither could change; she returned her attention to the conversation at hand.

‘Great. Next time my biro runs out, I’ll know where to go,’ she teased. In the distance she saw a collection of huts and shacks. All of them seemed to be covered with material like solar panelling. ‘What about milk? Which we’re _actually_ out of.’

‘Gonna have to wait until our next trip to Earth. S’the only place that’s got cows. Unless you like goat’s milk, in which case there’re a few human colonies out there that have ‘em.’

‘Goats but no cows?’

‘Goats travel better through space,’ the Doctor explained, taking her hand as they headed across a field of what seemed to be smooth rocks covered in lichen. Straggly little blue trees, waving in the breeze like seaweed, sprung up every few feet. ‘Cows can handle a few days, maybe a week. Longer than that, though, and it isn’t pretty.’

‘Why?’

‘Interstellar travel wreaks havoc on the stomach.’

‘Then why – oh, no, wait. Don’t tell me, they had somefing like this in biology class. Cows have four stomachs, right?’

‘Exactly,’ the Doctor beamed. ‘The more stomachs you have, the more trouble. Most species with more than two avoid interstellar travel altogether and just wait to develop teleports.’

‘ _You’ve_ got two stomachs and you don’t have a problem.’

‘Time Lord biology,’ he reminded her as if that trumped everything – which it usually did. ‘I’m the exception to all the rules.’

Rose rolled her eyes. ‘So why didn’t people just teleport the cows?’

‘Humans didn’t develop the tech fast enough,’ the Doctor shrugged. ‘The first ships you lot built were slow. Took months, years of travel before they made it anywhere remotely habitable. It wasn’t until they got some decent off-world engineers and figured out faster-than-light travel that the journey shortened enough that they could bring animals with them. By that time, Earth’s eco-system was so destroyed by all your rubbish politicians that a lot of species went extinct. Cows being one of ‘em.’

‘That’s horrible!’ Rose exclaimed. Like most humans, she distantly understood that many animal species in the world went extinct every day, but they didn’t directly affect her. Something as common as a cow, however… it was hard to imagine. ‘So there really is no milk anywhere in the universe except Earth?’

‘Well, there’s different varieties, but not the kind you’d want to put in your tea.’

Rose made a face. ‘Right. So what kind of milk to the Floxians have?’

‘Floxese.’

‘Huh?’

‘Floxese, not Floxian. Floxians are a completely different species. Bad tempered, foul-smelling scavengers. The Floxese aren’t even dangerous, except if you get them really upset. That’s when they secrete acid, which isn’t fun.’

‘Right. Well, I won’t upset a… Floxes then.’

‘Just don’t mention noodles and you should be fine.’

‘Noodles?’

‘Trust me. Don’t.’

‘Right,’ Rose replied, raising an eyebrow but deciding not to pursue it.

After a month and a half of travelling with him, she was generally aware of when it was all right to question the Doctor and when not to. When his tone became clipped, and his expression tense, she understood she was wandering too close to the topic of the Time War and needed to tread carefully. When it became a toneless deadpan coupled with a reproachful stare, she recognised his “it’s for your own good, you stupid ape” mode.

This was the latter.

Upon reaching the odd solar structures, Rose realised that they weren’t little shacks as she had first thought, but countless round shaped tents. They were an assortment of muted colours, dimmed by the solar plating on the outside of them. She supposed that was why almost every tent had brightly lit signs advertising their wares, but she saw nary a plug in sight.

More interesting than the market, however, were the many bodies filling it. Although there were aliens of every type frequenting the place, it was obvious which ones were the natives by their sheer number.

The reason for the Doctor’s warning also became immediately apparent.

The Floxese were a species of tentacle aliens that to Rose’s eyes looked like a cross between jellyfish and a plate of spaghetti. They didn’t appear to have any eyes or ears or noses, but that didn’t stop them from moving around the market with ease.

Some browsed the stalls or ate at the food kiosks while others showed off their wares to passersby. One of them yelled out angrily at a kid – she assumed it to be a kid, from the size – that tried to make off with a shiny disc from his stall. The kid billowed away in a hurry, past the Doctor and Rose and out of sight.

‘Shoplifter,’ Rose shook her head. ‘I guess things never really change.’

‘People are rather boring, no matter what species,’ the Doctor agreed, and headed over to the stall to examine the machinery being offered there.

For the first ten minutes, Rose lingered uncertainly in the background, while he and the alien proprietor discussed the make and model of different bits of tech. She got the sense the Doctor might be haggling, but she couldn’t really follow it, and to be honest she was getting a bit bored.

She inched away from the tech stall and towards the other offerings, studying the curious to be found there. Maybe she would pick up something alien and bring back to her mother or Mickey. She had no intention of going back home for a while, but it might be nice to have a bag of souvenirs for when she did.

_Don’t think she’ll have much use for a machine that recycles sweat_ , she thought with a crinkle of her nose as she passed one table.

Eventually she found her way to a stall displaying alien jewellery, which was finally something recognisable. Most of the offerings ended up being bangles and rings, apparently to be worn on the tentacles; she supposed they might be refitted for human fingers and toes. There were also vibrant paints in ornate bottles, which Rose supposed was the Floxese version of make-up.

She was just reaching for one of the pink ones to examine closer when she the hairs on the back of her neck suddenly raised. It was like she was being watched by someone or something. Life with the Doctor had taught her not to ignore that sensitivity because it might mean the difference between being eaten by something or not. So, she turned around to investigate.

To her surprise, there was no many-toothed creature standing beside her. The sensation was actually coming from several stalls down where the Doctor still stood.

He was staring at her.

Though he stood too far away for her to make out the exact expression, for an inexplicable moment of time she felt utterly laid bare. Before she read too much into the sensation, though, he looked away quickly. He launched back into a long diatribe with the owner of the stall.

_What was that all about?_ Rose wondered.

She started to head back to him, intending to ask him what was wrong, when something wrapped around her wrist.

‘What – ?’ she squeaked, staring down at the three ropey tentacles that now wrapped around her.

‘Beautiful ware for beautiful bipedal organisms,’ a squid-like alien chirped. ‘Rings, bracelets, spirals – guaranteed to please regardless of designated gender identification!’

‘Oh, no, thanks, I’m good –’ Rose tried to decline, pulling her wrist free from the tentacles. They weren’t painfully tight on her wrist, exactly, but they were clammy and oddly textured.

‘Nonsense! These are designed with non-Floxese in mind, especially for someone with so few appendages,’ he – she? It? – insisted, reaching for Rose again and trying to show into the back of the tent.

‘I’m sure they’re lovely, but I don’t have any money –’

‘Oh, we do barter too – come in, come in! Let Djfbwdalj serve you! Have lovely solar fibre patterns as well…’

The vendor suddenly trailed off as a shadow loomed over them both.

‘And where d’you think you’re taking her?’

Rose and the alien glanced up to see the Doctor, who had materialised as if from thin air by her side. He glowered at the Floxese vendor with the same menace she had seen him bestow upon alien invaders and dictators.

‘Apologies, apologies!’ the squid thing squelched. ‘Djfbwdalj was simply showing back-room wares.’

‘Since when is it store policy to put your feelers on customers?’

‘Djfbwdalj… did not mean offence,’ the alien managed, sounding horribly flustered. It quaked beneath the Doctor’s unrelenting stare, and Rose felt bad for it.

‘It’s all right,’ she spoke up, raising one hand to placate the Floxese and placing the other on the Doctor’s arm. ‘Relax, yeah? He – she – it –?’

‘My preferred designation is female,’ the alien confirmed nervously.

‘Right – _she_ didn’t mean anything by it. Just a bit enthusiastic, yeah?’ she insisted, and raised an eyebrow at the Doctor. ‘Have you found your parts yet?’

‘… No,’ he answered stiffly, still eyeing the Floxese vendor with suspicion.

‘Well, go do that. M’still having a look around.’

‘Which inevitably leads to wandering off – Rule Number One, Rose,’ he reminded her.

‘I’m not going anywhere,’ she placated. ‘Standin’ right here, not getting into trouble. Promise.’

He shot the squid alien one last mistrustful glare and turned back to the kiosk where he had been before. He didn’t look back, and nothing about his gait would have suggested his behaviour was anything out of the norm. Still, she couldn’t help notice the tips of his ears before he got too far away; they seemed pinker than usual.

_Was he checking up on me?_ Rose wondered dimly.

‘The other biped is very overprotective,’ the vendor commented, sounding half-amused and half-imitated.

‘Yeah, sorry about that. He’s not usually like that. Or… well, if he is, I’ve never noticed before. Doesn’t like to do domestic, he says.’

‘Hmph. Males are like that in most species,’ Djfbwdalj said. ‘Something to watch out for, sometimes.’

_I know that first-hand,_ Rose thought, her mind casting back to Jimmy Stone. Outwardly, however, she shook her head and offered a small smile. ‘Not him. Never met anyone I trust more.’

‘Such faith is rare,’ the alien said. ‘And deserving of a gift, no? Come see, there are many special items here that come in matching sets. You and your spouse can match!’

‘We’re not together,’ Rose laughed, dismissing the suggestion with practised ease. ‘Just friends travelling together.’

‘That is no matter,’ the vendor swished a tentacle. ‘Come in, come in – did Djfbwdalj not tell you of the solar fibre? The best quality for light-years!’

‘Nah, I think I’m better off staying out here in case himself accuses me of wandering off,’ Rose laughed.

‘He will know to look here first,’ Djfbwdalj dismissed, nudging her towards the tent again.

She had heard of pushy sales people before – had worked with a lot of them, too, considering at Henriks salaries were based on commission – but this was becoming ridiculous.

‘Seriously, I’m fine, I –’

As she pulled away from the alien, she ended up staggering a bit into the tent. As if she crossed some invisible barrier, suddenly the air before her eyes threw up some kind of translucent photon grid, and an alarm sounded.

Rose jumped away from it in surprise and backed out of the tent again trying to study the odd grid. It was blaring red alien lettering at her, which the TARDIS quickly translated for her.

_Species Detected: Homo Sapiens. Warning! Warning!_

‘The hell…?’ she asked, addressing the tentacle alien, but upon looking up saw that the squid creature was backing away from her.

‘Monster!’ it squelched in terror, tripping over its various appendages in its haste to get away.

‘What are you talking about?’ Rose demanded, head whipping around to see if any of the passersby had noticed what was going on. Several of them had, and a crowd was gathering. People chattered and shouted noisily, pointing at her, while others hurried their kids away. ‘Er… right, I’m just … go.’

She made her way towards where the Doctor had just been – she could no longer see him, because the crowd had become so thick.

Several forms pushed through the crowd – more Floxese, All of their tentacles were marked with some sort of alien symbol or decoration, and they each wore an official looking bracer.

_Police?_ Rose thought as they neared her

‘You will come with us now!’ the closest one insisted, reaching out a feeler for her. It dripped with viscous liquid, and Rose remembered what the Doctor had said about acid.

‘Yeah, not gonna happen,’ she replied. ‘You haven’t even told me what I’ve done yet!’

‘Keep your appendages in view!’ it barked, and Rose tried desperately to find an escape route. Where was the Doctor?

‘This is your final warning! If you do not –’

There was an outburst of shocked cries as Djfbwdalj’s stall suddenly collapsed in on itself. Before Rose could properly take that in, though, her wrist was grabbed – by a hand, thankfully – and she was yanked through the still settling dust.

‘Doctor!’ she cried in relief, but then nearly lost her footing when she saw that it wasn’t the Time Lord pulling her to safety.

Instead, her rescuer was a round faced young man that couldn’t have been much older than she was. He drew her through the zig-zag of market stalls and makeshift alleyways, away from the commotion of the main market.

They didn’t stop until they reached the outskirts of the bazaar, and he pulled her down behind several large crates and other storage units.

Rose yanked her hand away. ‘Who the hell are you?’

‘The person who just saved your life,’ the young man replied cheerfully – in a voice that suggested he was more of a boy than fully grown. He also seemed unbothered by her lack of gratitude. ‘Name’s Oswin, Good Samaritan Extraordinaire.’

Rose hadn’t expected that. ‘Good Samaritan?’

‘Was just passing through – lucky I was, too, or you’d be arrested and dragged off to prison by now,’ he continued.

‘What? Why me?’

‘Cos you’re human,’ Oswin rolled his eyes. ‘They’re illegal here, didn’t you know?’

‘I need to find the Doctor,’ Rose said, starting to stand, but Oswin yanked her back down.

‘He can handle himself – it’s you they’re after.’

‘That makes no sense!’ Rose hissed. ‘Why would the Doctor bring me somewhere humans aren’t allowed?’

‘Because he probably got his landing wrong again. I bet he didn’t realise he showed up during one of the anti-human periods in this moon’s history,’ the stranger told her matter-of-factly. ‘Dunno how you missed the waves, though.’

‘The what?’

‘They’ve got digital broadsheets set up all over this moon to warn against humans. And all the kiosks have even basic security measures. They scan all bipeds to be sure – honestly, he goes on and on about how smart he is!’

‘How d’you know about the Doctor?’ she demanded, scrutinising her puzzling saviour for a moment. Something about his face tugged at her memory. ‘Hold on, you look familiar… we’ve met, haven’t we?’

‘Nope!’ the young man piped up. ‘Just passing through, breaking rules and saving lives. It’s a funny old universe, innit?’

‘What are you going on about?’

‘I’d tell you, but in about fifteen seconds the Doctor will be here and I can’t explain it all in front of him. Not without a massive paradox and other unpleasant things,’ Oswin lectured. ‘Just consider it the occupational hazards of time travel, or me saving your life and thereby saving his cos he’d probably get himself killed. Or go all Oncoming Storm, which will make him feel even worse than if he got himself killed. Anyway…’

She did not understand what that meant, but as she opened her mouth to ask she got cut off by a familiar cry.

‘Rose!’

She whipped her head up in time to see the Doctor skid over to her side and crouch down beside her. ‘Doctor!’

‘Are you all right? How did you get away?’

He checked her over for visible injuries.

‘I’m fine,’ she assured him. ‘I got a bit of help from…’ She looked back and saw that Oswin was gone. ‘He’s gone.’

‘He?’ the Doctor repeated, looking around as well.

‘Yeah, some bloke – I swear, he looked familiar. And he talked about you and time travel and… he said he was here to save me. Or you. I dunno,’ Rose related quickly.

The Doctor frowned, briefly closing his eyes in concentration, then shook his head. ‘I can’t sense anything. No temporal instabilities, no Blinovitch Limitation fall-out…’

‘No _what_?’

‘Never mind, not important,’ the Doctor shook it off.

She didn’t think that was quite the end of it.

The presence of her mysterious rescuer and everything he had said – it made little sense. It bothered her that he knew the Doctor, and enough about her that she was human, yet she didn’t know him. And his face! She couldn’t figure it out, but she remained certain she had seen it somewhere before!

Of course, it might be exactly what he said: hazards of time travel. She and the Doctor always hopped back and forth in time, it stood to reason that they might not always meet people in order. What if one day in the future they met another time traveller and then told that person to come back to this place? To this time, just to help Rose escape, but they couldn’t say anything because –

_No, wait, he said we’ve never met. Oh, this is giving me a headache_ , she decided. _If it happens again I’ll worry. Besides, if it really is something the Doctor would still be asking me about it._

It was true. He was an excellent multi-tasker and could diffuse an atomic bomb while arguing a million and one reasons why they shouldn’t go visit her mother.

So his lack of concern was either because it wasn’t important, or he was more bothered than he let on.

‘Should we stay and investigate?’ Rose asked, trying to gauge his thoughts on the matter.

He shook his head. ‘Whoever it was, is long gone. If he talked about time travel, and us, it’s possible he was part of a time loop or a predestination paradox. Best not get involved with that until we know more about it. For now, we just need to worry about getting out of here. The important thing is your safe.’

‘Yeah, no thanks to you,’ Rose accused lightly, poking him in the chest. ‘You brought me to a planet where humans are illegal!’

‘They aren’t usually,’ he protested, rubbing the spot she had jabbed. ‘It’s why I came here, not just cos of their parts selection. We must’ve hit the tail-end of the first contact period.’

‘Did you at least get your part?’

‘Oh, yeah, and for a decent price, too,’ the Doctor said, sounding right chuffed about the whole thing.

‘Nutter,’ she accused fondly. ‘So why are humans banned? Or illegal or whatever.’

‘It’s their own fault. Didn’t make a great first impression this time around. Started eating the natives with Bolognese sauce.’

‘Oh, that’s disgusting.’

‘Well, it’s the human way: if it stays still long enough, see what it tastes like.’

‘Humans are not like that!’

‘Oh yeah? Look up the Donner Party.’

‘What does that even –?’

‘Shh!’

The Doctor’s hand went across her mouth and he tugged her back into the shadows of the containers. They heard several Floxese ooze by, shouting directions and orders at one another.

‘They’ll find us eventually,’ the Doctor said after removing his hand. ‘Back to the TARDIS, then.’

‘Which is on the complete other side of the market,’ Rose pointed out. ‘Can we run around it and double back?’

‘Nope, they’d notice us.’

‘Well, you could always go back without me – you’re alien, you’ll be fine – and bring her here.’

‘And get here to find you’ve been hauled off while I was gone?’ the Doctor disdained. ‘Not gonna happen. We’ll slip through the kiosks. Enough obstacles around to help us put some distance between us and any Floxese that decide to follow us. Not exactly known for sprinting, squids.’

‘Yeah – and if they do catch us, it’s just a gaol cell. No problem,’ Rose pointed out.

‘And losing your hands.’

‘What?!’

‘Arrest procedures. They don’t use handcuffs here. They amputate the limbs of criminals. Floxese can grow them back, but humans –’

‘Right, we are leaving this place now,’ Rose decided. ‘Shift!’

Luckily, the Doctor’s plan of escape seemed to work. The market was in enough of an uproar with Floxese and other aliens running to and fro, causing confusion as they looked for Rose. No one minded the small spaces between kiosks, which the Doctor and Rose ducked in and out of on their way to freedom.

They were only spotted as they broke away from the market, at which point, the Doctor gleefully grabbed Rose’s hand and yelled, ‘Run!’

Mysterious strangers and the Doctor’s odd behaviour aside, it was her favourite part of the day.


End file.
